Sportcenter Hosts Blast Phillies Fan Who Demanded HR Ball From Kid: ‘A Karen Move if Ever I’ve Seen One’

Philadelphia Phillies fan Karen takes foul ball from family. Screen Still from NBC Philadelphia

On the off chance that you missed it this past weekend, a Philadelphia Phillies fan went viral for taking a home run ball away from a young boy and his father under the misguided notion that she deserved it. Why? Because it landed near her seat. She has since rightfully been dubbed a ‘Karen’ since.

Now, even the hosts of ESPN’s SportsCenter are letting her have it.

At a Phillies-Marlins game, Harrison Bader smashed a home run that landed in front of a few fans but ultimately bounced in the hands of dad Drew Feltwell. He sweetly passed it to his young son for a picture-perfect baseball memory.

The perfect memory became a nightmare when a woman dressed in a Rachel Maddow starter kit, dyed hair, and a Phillies jersey decided she was the rightful owner of the ball in question.

I’m not sure where that lunatic learned etiquette at a baseball game, because once the ball bounces around, it’s fair game for everyone in the stands. The father caught it fair and square.

It’s actually questionable as to whether or not the Phillies’ Karen ever touched the ball. Eventually, though, Feltwell, just trying to get the crazed woman away from his son, gave her the ball and shooed her away.

Her behavior grew ever more Karen-y after that.

SportsCenter Hosts Rip Phillies Karen

Oh, Karen, honey—did your sense of decency get lost in the snack line, or were you too busy practicing your “manager” glare in the mirror that morning?

The viral video caught the attention of ESPN’s SportsCenter anchors Nicole Briscoe and Michael Eaves, who tore into her with glee and cheered the crowd’s roast of her selfish strut away.

“That’s a Karen move if I’ve ever seen one,” Briscoe said.

As they played a clip of the crowd jeering the woman for her actions, Eaves chided, “Awesome, make her feel terrible.”

Briscoe would later point out that it’s one thing for the Phillies Karen to go after a grown man, but she went after a grown man who gave the ball to his son as an early birthday gift. She took the ball from a little boy.

“This is supposed to be one of those magical baseball moments,” she said. “You don’t take that away from a child.”

Who had the Last Laugh?

Feltwell and his son were overwhelmingly looked upon as sympathetic characters in the viral exchange, though many voiced that they would never have bent to the pressure from the Phillies’ Karen.

Dad told NBC10 Philly that he felt he had no choice. He just wanted the woman and her screechy sense of entitlement to skedaddle.

“She just yelled in my ear, ‘That’s my ball!’ super loud,” he said. “I jumped out of my skin … I pretty much just wanted her to go away.”

Feltwell said he was left with two options: “Either do something I was going to regret or be dad and show him (his son) how to handle it. So that’s where I went.”

Whether he should or should not have relented can be debated, but who ultimately ended up the winner in this story is an open and shut case.

Feltwell’s son was awarded a “goodie bag” from the Marlins because of the incident, and he got to meet Bader, the Phillies center fielder who hit the home run ball, after the game.

Bader gave him an autographed bat. You know, either as a souvenir or a means of defense next time his Dad gets accosted by someone straight out of a padded cell.

“That’s just pure class,” Eaves said of the gesture. “Props to Bader for stepping in and making sure that kid still had a night to remember.”

While the Phillies’ Karen will never be forgotten over this incident.