‘Phillies Karen’ Badgers Man Into Giving Up Birthday Kid’s Home Run Ball Live On Air In Stunning Viral Moment

There’s a new souvenir-snatching sports villain in town, and outraged fans called her “Phillies Karen” after she repossessed a Harrison Bader home run ball from a birthday boy’s father live on the air. The scene recalled another recent incident where a spectator snatched a souvenir from a child at the U.S. Open.

There were plenty of fireworks during the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies’ 9 to 3 victory over the distant-third Miami Marlins, but the most explosive play came during the scramble for a home run ball.

Star centerfielder Harrison Bader came up to bat in the fourth and sent a long shot into the leftfield stands to put the Phils up 5 to 1, and the cameras caught a few seconds of a woman berating a man into giving up the souvenir as he clutched his son.

But when more footage of the scramble emerged, a villain narrative built around the woman. As MLB Network’s Cliff Floyd and Matt Vasgersian pointed out later, the footage is open to interpretation as the man ranged far into her section and took the ball right from at her feet:

MATT VASGERSIAN: Now we’re gonna we’re going to run it folks can have their own opinions. It’s in the seats Okay, guy went over to get it picked it up off the ground and gave it to his son.

CLIFF FLOYD: No big deal.

MATT VASGERSIAN: All right. Nice family. Oh, excuse Excuse me, sir.

CLIFF FLOYD: Whoa! That ball was at my feet!

What? Hold on, fam!

MATT VASGERSIAN: That’s my ball. It was at feet first. And the guy said, you know, I don’t want to deal with you, lady. You’re scaring me and my family.

Take the ball.

But good news, the young fan, the boy, the family, going home with a signed bat from Harrison Bader. So he won. You got the signed bat.

More footage emerged as the night wore on, as other attendees posted clips and the social media fire built.

Social media judgment was swift and severe, but as noted, there was a happy ending for the young man. One popular post sums it up, captioning the clip with the ominous notation “This woman has no idea how her life is about to change”.

The Phillies later posted photos with the caption “Going home with a signed bat from Bader.”

A representative of the Marlins also brought him a goodie bag.

Watch above via NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Networ, X/Twitter.