Story of Lincoln and baseball

[David Lockmiller]

The Athletic reports: "Company offers $5,000 for ball Phillies fan took from kid if it’s inscribed ‘I’m sorry’"

The Philadelphia Phillies fan who took a home-run ball away from a child after berating the boy’s father during Friday night’s game against the Miami Marlins can land a nice payday for the souvenir.

But there’s a catch.

Blowout Cards, a major trading card retailer, announced it will pay the woman who ended up with the ball $5,000 if she hands it over with her autograph and inscribes “I’m sorry” on it. The company said it will return the baseball to the child.

“Our offer is official and the offer is firm,” Blowout posted on its website.

The incident occurred after Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader crushed a home run into the left field stands. As the ball hit the seats and rolled around, four fans scrambled for it. One man, later identified as Drew Feltwell by NBC10 Philadelphia, retrieved the ball and returned to his seat, placing it in his son’s glove with an embrace.

Feltwell told NBC10 he attended the game with his family for his son Lincoln’s 10th birthday.

A woman who had been in the scrum, also wearing Phillies gear, confronted Feltwell as he held his son, pointing to the area where the frenzy occurred. After a verbal exchange, the woman appeared to demand that the father give the ball to her. The visibly exasperated father acquiesced, taking the ball out of his son’s glove and handing it to the woman as other fans in the section watched and filmed the incident, which quickly started to spread on social media.