Baseball fans across the country are still buzzing after a viral clip from Friday night’s Phillies game showed a woman, quickly dubbed “Phillies Karen,” berating a father and his young son until they gave up a prized home run ball. Now, the boy’s father is speaking out about why he handed the ball over, and his explanation says a lot about what it means to be a dad.
Drew Faltwell was sitting in left field with his son, Lincoln, when Harrison Bader smacked a homer into the stands. Faltwell snagged the ball and immediately gave it to Lincoln, who was celebrating his birthday. What should have been a perfect father-son moment turned sour when an angry woman stormed up, screaming that the ball was “hers.”
Video shows her pointing and shouting, “That was ours!… No, you took it from me! It was in my hand!” as stunned fans looked on. With the woman in his face, Faltwell made the decision to give in rather than escalate.
Speaking with NBC10 Philadelphia, Faltwell explained his thought process. “I don’t even remember what she said. It was a lot of eyes on us by that time, and the ball was already in his glove, and she wouldn’t stop. I mean, I’m literally leaning back as she’s in my face yelling and yelling.”
He added that he had a choice to make in the heat of the moment. “I pretty much just wanted her to go away because I had a fork in the road: either do something I was probably going to regret or be dad and show him how to de-escalate the situation, so that’s where I went.”
Lincoln, for his part, defended his father’s call. “I wasn’t very happy that we had to give it to her, but we can’t win,” the boy said.
But the story didn’t end with “Karen” walking off with the ball. Both the Phillies and the visiting team stepped in to make things right. Lincoln got the chance to meet outfielder Harrison Bader, the very player who hit the ball, and was presented with a signed bat and other gifts.
In the end, what began as a frustrating encounter turned into a memory Lincoln will likely never forget, all thanks to his dad’s patience and the generosity of Major League Baseball.
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