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After a video of a woman demanding a Philadelphia Phillies home run ball from a father who grabbed it for his son went viral online, rumors began circulating that she had been fired from a New Jersey school district.
But that wasn’t the case, according to the school district in the state’s Atlantic County.
In the video, a group of fans race to retrieve a home run ball hit by Philly’s player Harrison Bader in the fourth inning. Multiple fans scurry for the ball, but a man snags it up and quickly brings it back to his young son.
A woman follows hot on his heels and grabs his arm, startling him. She begins a heated discussion with the man, clearly demanding the home run ball for herself.
“That was mine. You took it from me,” she says, according to a video recorded near the interaction. “It was in my hands.”
Based on the footage, it does not appear that she ever had possession of the ball.
The father ultimately gives the ball up to de-escalate the situation and waves the woman off.
Social media judgment was swift; the woman faced widespread condemnation online, and, as expected, people way too invested in the drama sought to identify and shame her.
That’s when rumors began circulating that she had been fired from the Hammonton Public School District.
According to the district, that’s not true. If it had been one of their teachers, the district said, she never would have lost the ball in the first place.
“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,” the district said in a statement, according to Breaking Atlantic County.
The statement confirmed that the woman “is not, and has never been an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools” district in New Jersey.
“Social media and news reports indicating that she is, are incorrect,” the statement says.
Wannabe social media sleuths also thought they’d found her when they accused a woman named Cheryl Richardson-Wagner of being the Phillies fan, but she also denied being the woman in the video.
“OK everyone … I’m NOT the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and as fast),” Richardson-Wagner wrote on social media, noting that she’s a fan of the Boston Red Sox, not the Philadelphia Phillies.
While the internet focused on the woman, the Phillies and their opponents, the Florida Marlins, focused on the boy who had a home run ball snatched away from him on his birthday.
“That was not OK,” a Marlins representative reportedly told the father, according to the New York Post. “So we brought you a cool little goodie bag. …I’m so sorry.”
The boy also got to meet Bader after the game and received a signed bat from the player to make up for the incident.
