A video of a woman arguing with a man at a Major League Baseball game between the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies, resulting in the woman taking a home run ball away from the man's son, was shared widely on social media in early September 2025.
Claims that the woman was identified and subsequently fired from her job at a New Jersey school district circulated online soon after the Sept. 5 incident.
One user sharing the rumor in a Facebook post (archived) wrote, "The individual, a school administrator in a New Jersey district, has faced a wave of backlash, with students flooding her Facebook page with hostile comments. According to reports, she is not expected to return to her position. Karma is real."
Other users on X (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) also spread the claim, with some posts sharing the woman's alleged name, leading to Snopes readers reaching out with questions about the rumor.
The woman's actions earned her the moniker "Phillies Karen" on social media, citing the derogatory slang term for "a specific type of middle-class white woman, who exhibits behaviors that stem from privilege."
However, the rumor that the "Phillies Karen" was identified and subsequently fired from her position in a New Jersey public school district was false.
District's response
Various social media users identified the woman in question as either Leslie-Ann Kravitz (archived) or Cheryl Richardson Wagner (archived), each alleged to be an administrator at Hammonton School District in New Jersey.
However, on Sept. 6, Hammonton School District addressed the rumor in a posted on its Facebook page (archived): "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."
The district added added, "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."
In addition, after social media users began sending comments to an actual New Jersey resident named Cheryl Richardson-Wagner, she posted to her Facebook page (archived), "OK everyone… I'm NOT the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast)… and I'm a Red Sox fan." She also changed her Facebook banner image to the Boston Red Sox logo and her profile picture to a screenshot of her statement.
There was no evidence that any actual person named Leslie-Ann Kravitz had responded to the accusations as of this writing. Neither name appeared on the Hammonton School District's website, but we reached out to the district for further comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
According to various news reports, it appeared that the woman in the viral video had yet to be publicly identified as of this writing.
What happened at the game
In the video, a woman confronted a man and his son after they corralled a home run hit by Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader. The woman appeared to argue with the man until he took the ball out of his son's glove and gave it to her, prompting boos from the crowd.
The man, Drew Feltwell, told Philadelphia's WCAU: "We were there to get a home run ball, so I thought we had accomplished this great thing and putting it in his glove meant a lot and she was just so adamant and loud and yelling and persistent, and I just didn't want to deal with it anymore."
In an effort to rectify the situation, the Miami Marlins gave the boy a goodie bag and wished him a happy birthday, as seen on the team's social media accounts.
Even though the family was rooting against the home-team Marlins, Feltwell told the TV station other fans offered his son game balls. He said, "They were Marlins fans and we're all in Phillies gear and nobody cared, it was just about giving him a ball to take home and I thought that was amazing."
Finally, the Phillies invited the family to meet Bader after the game. The player gave the boy a signed baseball bat, according to the Phillies social media accounts.
In another victory for the Feltwells, the Phillies defeated the Marlins 9-3.