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As the social media hunt goes on for the ‘Phillies Karen’ that bullied a dad and his young son into giving her a home run ball on Friday, one seemingly innocent woman got caught in the crossfire.
Speculation across X on Saturday saw users claim the woman’s name was ‘Cheryl Richardson-Wagner’ and inevitably, it sent people on the hunt for her Facebook page.
But it appears the social media rumors are mistaken. A woman called Cheryl Richardson-Wagner herself was forced to put a statement up on her page insisting she was not the person that sparked the scenes.
‘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.
To underline her final point, she changed her Facebook cover photo to the Boston Red Sox crest.
The viral incident occurred Friday night in a game between Philadelphia and the Miami Marlins in Florida, when Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader smacked a home run to left field at loanDepot Park.
The woman didn’t see the loose ball as fair game, but rather claimed she had it in her hand
The stunned boy looked on as his father was confronted by the woman and fellow Phillies fan
The ball landed near some Philly fans, in front of a woman who was just a little slow to react.
The woman, the man standing next to her, and two other fans tracking the ball all dove to try and get it. In the end, a man wearing a red Phillies shirt was able to reach down and grab it cleanly.
As he walked off, the woman took a swipe at him and missed as the man got back to his seats and then gave the ball to his son, who looked thrilled.
But the woman just couldn’t stand coming up short, hopped down to the man’s row, and confronted him. Shocked, the man turned to her in a defensive stance with his hands at his face.
Eventually, as she kept yelling, the dad took the ball away from his son and gave it to the woman.
Other angles of the exchanged surfaced on social media thanks to quick-thinking fans that revealed just how iratre the mystery woman was.
‘That was ours,’ the belligerent woman yelled at the man.
After he gestured to his son, who he’d given the ball to, the man tried to explain that she didn’t actually catch the souvenir. However, that answer wasn’t cutting it.
A woman called Cheryl Richardson-Wagner has had to deny she was the person in the video
Richardson-Wagner (right) even clarified that she is a Red Sox fan, not a Phillies supporter
‘No, you took it from me!’ she yelled in response. ‘You took it from me! That was in my hands. That was in my hands.’
It was at this point that the man relented, taking the baseball from his disappointed son and handing it to the woman.
The dialogue abruptly ended with both parties saying: ‘Bye.’
Several onlookers also got in a few words, including one who yelled, ‘glad you earned that,’ to the woman.
