The father at the center of the Philadelphia Phillies home run ball drama has a message to internet sleuths trying to find dirt on the woman who harassed him: leave her alone.
Drew Feltwell scooped a home run ball hit by Harrison Bader during a September 5 game and gave it to his son, who was celebrating his 10th birthday. That’s when the woman demanded that he hand it over.
The internet was quick to pass judgement on the woman — with more than a few calls for her to be identified — but Feltwell feels like she’s taken enough of a beating in the public square at this point.
“Please don’t do anything to that lady,’’ he told USA TODAY Sports. “Leave it alone. You know, somebody knows her and can talk to her, that’s different. But God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good.’’
On September 5 Bader hit a home run into the stands, and several fans — including the woman — scrambled for the ball. Feltwell grabbed it and went to return to his seat to give the ball to his son, but the woman followed him. She grabbed his arm, startling the father, and demanded he hand the ball over after accusing him of grabbing it from her hands.
The available video evidence is not clear on exactly what the situation was at the moment the ball was retrieved.
Hoping to avoid further escalation, the father gave the woman the ball and told her to leave. Video of the exchange went viral and a social media witch hunt began.
At least one woman was misidentified as the ball-snatching Phillies fan — she put out a message denying the claims and noted that she is a Boston Red Sox fan, not a Phillies fan. A rumor also circulated that the Phillies fan was a teacher and had been fired from her school district in Atlantic County.
The school denied the rumors, and said if it had been one of their teachers they would have caught the ball barehanded.
Earlier this week, a trading card company offered the woman $5,000 to sell them the ball, but to collect the money she first has to sign it with the words “I’m sorry.” The company said it wants to give the ball to Feltwell’s son.
Bader met the boy after the game and gave him a signed baseball bat. The Miami Marlins — the Phillies’ opponents the night of the incident — also sent him a gift following the game.
Feltwell told NBC 10 that he’d love to have the ball to put in his son’s room next to the signed bat, but he said that ultimately he felt things worked out fine on his end.
But he’s worried that the internet has gone a little too hard on the woman who confronted him in the stands.
“I could say something like she got what she deserved,” he said. “But I don’t know if she deserved that much.”
