“You took it from me,” a woman yelled at a father-son duo during the fourth inning of the Phillies’ 9-3 victory over Miami on Friday. Philadelphia’s Harrison Bader hit a solo home run to the second deck in left field, and the father, who gathered the ball, was all happy as he sprinted back to give it to his son, Lincoln. But an angry woman, who felt entitled to the ball, quickly went up to them, demanding it be handed to her.

Eventually, the father gave her the ball to end the confrontation. The lady stormed off, and the young boy was left dejected. After the whole incident went viral on social media, the woman was dubbed ‘Karen,’ and soon rumors started circulating that she had been fired from work because of it. A fan, who goes by David Lesley on X, wrote: “The baseball #Karen has been fired from her school position; her social media accounts have been flooded by students with hateful messages and telling her she’s not welcome back at her school… #Yay Karma is a b-tch.”

While several other social media accounts have made similar claims, there is no concrete evidence of the same. In fact, one rumor suggested she worked for the Hammonton School District but was fired from there. How true is this? Again, it turned out to be nothing more than online gossip. Hammonton took to social media to set the record straight:

“The woman identified on social media as “Phillies Karen” is not, and has never been an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools located in Hammonton, New Jersey. Social media and news reports indicating that she is, are incorrect. 

“Anyone who works for our school district, attended as a student, or lives in our community would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation.”

While the whole situation ended with the young boy looking disappointed, the Miami Marlins intervened later. A Marlins staff member was seen giving the lad a prize pack. He also got to meet Bader after the game and received a signed bat. It was a special moment for Lincoln because he was at the game to celebrate his upcoming 10th birthday.

“We’re just trying to make this week about him,” said the father, who also set an example of how to de-escalate a situation. In a brief interview about the incident, he shared how the woman was booed out of the stadium just five minutes after she took the ball from them. But who was the woman?

No official reports about her identity, but an account claims she is not Cheryl Richardson-Wagner

Among the several rumors about the woman swirling online, one claimed her name was Cheryl Richardson-Wagner. That, too, turned out to be untrue. A Facebook account by the name of Wagner clarified that the woman in the video was not her. She stated, “OK, everyone…. I’m not the crazy Phillies mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast)…. and I’m a Red Sox fan.”

And so, there is no official confirmation about the identity of the ‘Phillies Karen’. However, the incident also reminded many sports fans of what took place during the US Open. Just days ago, Piotr Szczerek, a Polish chief executive of a paving firm, received criticism after clips of him snatching a hat from a young fan went viral. Here’s what happened.

Polish tennis star Kamil Majchrzak passed his hat to a child, but Szczerek grabbed it instead. It took place right after Majchrzak won his match against Russia’s  Karen Khachanov. However, Szczerek later came forward to apologise for his actions and explained how he thought Majchrzak had passed “his hat in my direction”.

“I know I did something that seemed like consciously collecting a memento from a child,” he wrote in an online statement. “This wasn’t my intention, but it doesn’t change the fact that I hurt the boy and disappointed the fans.” But just like how Lincoln got to meet Bader, the kid in this incident also got to visit Majchrzak over the weekend.