(Crankers) The dispute over a Philadelphia Phillies fan who confronted a father for a home run ball during a game against the Miami Marlins has continued to spark outrage.
Angry spectators, upset after the woman approached the man and demanded the ball he had given to his young son, began trying to identify her online. Their efforts fueled a rumor that the woman was Cheryl Richardson-Wagner.
She responded to the hateful comments online with a humorous post on Facebook.
“OK everyone … I’m not the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast) …. And I’m a Red Sox fan,” she wrote.
A New Jersey school district was also forced to tamp down a wave of online speculation.
The Hammonton School District issued a statement clarifying that none of its employees had been terminated.
“The woman identified on social media as ‘Phillies Karen’ is not, and has never been an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools located in Hammonton, New Jersey,” the district said.
“Anyone who works for our school district, attended as a student or lives in our community would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation!” the district added.
The Phillies fan ultimately did walk away with the ball after approaching the family during the game against the Marlins.
The father, identified as Drew Felwell, handed it over and later explained his decision in an interview with NBC Philadelphia.
“I don’t even remember what she said, it was, you know, a lot of eyes on us by that time and the ball was already in his glove and she just wouldn’t stop and I mean, I’m literally leaning back as she’s in my face yelling and yelling and I pretty much just wanted her to go away because I had a fork in the road: either do something I was probably going to regret or be dad and show him how to deescalate the situation so that’s where I went,” he said.