The daddy of a younger baseball fan who was on the epicenter of a social media firestorm after a heated dispute at a Philadelphia Phillies sport final week is sharing his tackle the now-viral incident.
Drew Feltwell of West Palm Seaside, Florida, was celebrating his son Lincoln’s tenth birthday on the Sept. 5 sport between the Phillies and the Miami Marlins, the place he managed to safe a fly ball hit into the stands by Phillies middle fielder Harrison Bader, who scored a house run.
Broadly circulated footage of the second, nonetheless, reveals the daddy and son being berated by a feminine attendee who insisted the ball was hers.
Feltwell, a New Jersey native, reluctantly gave the ball to the lady ultimately.
Talking to NBC 10 Philadelphia over the weekend, he acknowledged being one in every of a number of individuals who had tried to retrieve the ball, however was nonetheless “nonetheless in disbelief” over how the incident unfolded.
“It was, like, 10 seconds or 15 seconds later. She was fast,” he defined. “I didn’t even see her stroll up and as she reached for my arm, she simply yelled in my ear, ‘That’s my ball!’ Like, tremendous loud. I nearly jumped out of my pores and skin.”
As for his resolution at hand the ball over to the lady, he added, “I had a fork within the street to both, you realize, do one thing I used to be most likely going to remorse or be dad and present him tips on how to de-escalate a state of affairs, in order that’s the place I went.”
A lot of the criticism has been directed on the lady, widely dubbed “Phillies Karen” however not but publicly recognized. Nonetheless, some have defended her actions. “Effectively the ball did land close to her and he ran over to seize it. I kinda see her level nevertheless it’s the way in which you ask,” one particular person wrote on Instagram.
In accordance to reports, she was heckled by different followers who witnessed the alternate, and finally stormed off.
On Saturday, New Jersey’s Hammonton College District released a statement on its social media platforms debunking a web-based rumor that “Phillies Karen” was one in every of its staff.
“Anybody who works for our college district, attended as a scholar or lives in our neighborhood would clearly have caught the ball bare-handed within the first place, avoiding this whole state of affairs,” the statement read.
Luckily, Lincoln’s birthday celebration ended on an upbeat notice when the boy got to meet Bader after the sport and went dwelling with a signed bat and a prize pack.
“We ended up having night time due to good individuals,” Feltwell stated, earlier than noting he and his household would nonetheless settle for an apology from the lady if she got here ahead.
Watch a KTLA 5 information report on the incident beneath.
