Phillies invite young fan to meet Harrison Bader after dispute over home run ball

MIAMI (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies invited a young fan to meet Harrison Bader following their 9-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Friday night after an apparent dispute over a home run ball hit by the center fielder during the game.

Bader hit a solo home run into the left-field stands in the fourth inning at loanDepot Park. Several fans scrambled for the ball before a man came up with it and walked over and gave it to a boy and hugged him. Both were wearing Phillies gear, and it was the boy’s birthday.

Moments later, a woman, also wearing Philadelphia apparel, approached and appeared to shout at the man, who then grabbed the ball from the boy’s glove and gave it to her.

It isn’t clear from videos circulating on social media who initially secured the ball when it landed.

Later in the game, a member of the Marlins’ staff gave the boy a prize pack and another baseball as fans sitting near them in the stands cheered. The boy ended up going home with a signed bat from Bader, who met with him outside of the Phillies’ clubhouse after the game.

Marcus Lemonis, Camping World CEO and star of CNBC reality TV show “The Profit,” later posted on his X account that he would pay for the young fan and his family to attend the World Series.

“Oh, and you just won an RV as well,” he posted.

The dispute quickly went viral on social media and comes just days after another memorabilia-snatching moment in which a man took tennis player Kamil Majchrzak’s hat from a young fan at the U.S. Open and was widely criticized for the act.

He apologized on social media on Monday and said he has returned it.