The rules are pretty simple and straightforward: When you attend a sporting event, be a decent human being. And whatever you do, never take a souvenir away from a kid.
Those basic tenants were violated again Friday night at the Phillies-Marlins game in Miami, where a confrontation ensued over a home-run ball off the bat of Philadelphia’s Harrison Bader.
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
Bader’s fourth-inning blast landed in the left-field stands, a row in front of a woman wearing a Phillies sweatshirt. After she and a couple other fans reached down in pursuit of the baseball, a man in a red Phillies shirt emerged with the ball and immediately gave it to a young boy who was attending the game with him.
As the man presented the ball to the boy and began to hug him in celebration, the woman angrily rushed in and confronted him while shouting, “That was mine. You took it from me.”
Video replays — and there are no shortage of them as the incident took the internet by storm — showed the woman never had her hands on the baseball, and it was sitting free on the ground when the man scooped it up.
Taken aback by the woman’s anger, the man decided to defuse the heated situation by giving the woman the baseball anyway.
If the story had ended there, it would be just another case of boorish fan behavior triumphing over a wholesome moment for a young fan.
Fortunately, the story does not end there.
First, a representative from the Marlins came into the stands to award the boy with a gift bag, including baseballs for him and his sister, and check to make sure he was OK.
Bader and the Phillies went even further, inviting the boy and his entire party down to meet Bader after the game,
The boy, who told Bader his name was Lincoln and said he would be celebrating his birthday in “a couple days,” was presented with an autographed bat by the Phillies outfielder.
Going home with a signed bat from Bader pic.twitter.com/pCaXHSjLgL
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 6, 2025
“Sorry you didn’t get a ball, but I’m going to sign a bat for you instead,” Bader said.
The Phillies won the game 9-3, but the real winner was ballpark karma.
Kevin Jackson is the chief content officer for cllct. He spent 25 years at ESPN Digital Media, where he was the founding editor of Page 2, and nearly four years as the Executive Director for Digital Content at FOX Sports.