The Philadelphia Phillies are down in Miami for a series against the Miami Marlins, and the team has won the first two games to further extend its lead over the New York Mets in the NL East.
But the storyline from the Phillies-Marlins series has nothing to do with what's happened on the field, but rather what happened off of it in the left-field stands with the "Phillies Karen."
In the aftermath, people tried to find the identity of the woman who had demanded a Harrison Bader home run ball from a father and his son. As Jack Bezants of The Daily Mail reports, one woman had to come forward and deny that the "Phillies Karen" was her.
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Who is Phillies Karen?
Social media began to speculate that the woman who verbally accosted the father and son for Bader's home run was a woman by the name of Cheryl Richardson-Wagner.
On her Facebook account, the woman came forward and stated, "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."
Despite receiving hate messages from people believing she was the Phillies' Karen, Richardson-Wagner wasn't the target for their ire, as she's a Red Sox fan who wasn't near Miami, according to her posts, which The Daily Mail shared.
Richardson-Wagner was being targeted by internet sleuths, but why? She was being targeted thanks to the incident that occurred on Friday night during the Phillies and Marlins game.
Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader hit a home run to left field, where a father dashed across his row to grab the home run ball, walking back towards his family, placing the home run ball into his son's glove.
But, right on his tail was the aforementioned "Phillies Karen," who got in the father's face, complaining that the father had stolen the ball from her, yelling, "That (ball) was ours."
The father gave up the home run ball, pulling it out of his son's glove, handing it to the woman, who walked back to her seat. It instantly went viral, with both the Phillies and Marlins broadcast booths irritated at the woman for her actions.
A Phillies fan retrieves a home run ball for his son and this woman is furious she did not get the ball pic.twitter.com/kDMMJrw2R5
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 6, 2025
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The Marlins had a stadium worker give the young fan, who had his home run ball taken away, a goodie bag full of various baseball paraphernalia. He got an even better reward after the game, having a meet-and-greet with Bader, along with receiving a signed bat from the player who hit the home run to spark the wild story.
With baseball fans, and even those not interested in the sport, irate at the woman, many social media users have attempted to identify the woman who is now known as the "Phillies Karen."
Richardson-Wagner was the first target for fans to go after, and she made a statement on her Facebook to deny the accusations and respond to the hate comments.
It's unfortunate that amid the internet's quest to identify and further vilify the Phillies Karen, an innocent woman received unwarranted backlash for something she didn't do.
For now, the "Phillies Karen" remains unknown, as internet sleuths will likely continue to identify the woman behind the viral moment from Friday night's Phillies game down in Miami.
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