Dad breaks silence after woman goes viral for 'stealing' his son's baseball at Phillies game
All of social media was up in arms after a clip from a recent Philadelphia Phillies baseball game showed a woman seemingly forcibly taking a home run ball from a man and his son, and that same father has finally broken his silence about the incident.
In the current era of social media it's never too long until the next controversy or scandal, and we've only just recovered from the recent California healthcare workers incident, let alone the Coldplay kisscam palaver that seemingly sent everyone into a frenzy.
The latest event that everybody's talking about right now though involves a classic case of angry entitlement, as a woman people have lovingly dubbed 'baseball Karen' appeared to demand and 'steal' a baseball from a young boy.
While the ball was swiftly handed over by his father after he was stunned by the woman's fury, things thankfully worked out in the end as the young boy walked away with a bag full of merch and even had the chance to meet the team as workers at the stadium were alerted to the incident.
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That's not stopped people from targeting the pariah of the week though, as people claimed to have found 'baseball Karen's' employer and got her fired, although the institution in question has denied that she has any association with them.
However, as reported by Dexerto, we've finally had a chance to hear the dad's side of things thanks to a new interview with NBC10 Philadelphia, and Drew Feltwell has revealed exactly what happened with his son Lincoln and why he decided to hand the ball over.
"We were out in the home run seats trying to snag a ball for his (Lincoln) birthday week and as soon as it cracked off the bat, it was starting to head our way a little bit.
"So I walked to my right, walked to my right, walked to my right and thought, 'Oh crap, it's coming', and I walked down a couple seats and it fell and kind of bobbled between the two armrests, and I picked it up as as I was pulling away two other hands came. I didn't really care at that point, I just walked away and held the ball up high and put it in Lincoln's glove," he explained.
It didn't take long for him to realise what was stalking behind him as he walked back to his seat though, as he would soon meet the anger of a woman who believed the ball he had caught was rightfully hers.
"We were there to get a home run ball, so I thought I had accomplished this great thing, putting it in his glove meant a lot, and she was just so adamant and loud and yelling and persistent. I just didn't want to deal with it anymore," Drew revealed.
He didn't want to do anything he'd "regret" in the future, especially with the incident involving his family, so he decided to hand the ball over without any further conflict despite the disappointment of his son.
"That was the choice I made, hand her the ball back and tell her to go away."
Thankfully his son understood the decision despite being unhappy that he didn't have the ball anymore, as even he noted that he believed the woman "was going to get it anyway," regardless of what his dad decided to do.
Many have backed up his decision to both grab the home run ball and hand it over without conflict in the YouTube comments underneath, with one noting that "the first rule of baseball" is that "a ball hit in the stands is first come, first serve."
Another added that "the 'ball' thing will pass. The important part is that his family is grounded, sane, logical, and a prime example of what's good in society. That will last a lifetime."