Tiffany Goodwin was doing what comes naturally. She stood, followed the flight of the ball, reached out and caught the foul pop-up in the baseball glove on her left hand while holding 8-month-old son Jerry in her right.
Just another day at the ol' ballyard for the Goodwin family.
It was the second foul ball Tiffany, 31, snared at a Richmond Flying Squirrels' game at The Diamond. She caught a line drive last Friday.
"We were on our way to the game Sunday and my husband (Allen) said he's been waiting 38 years and never caught a foul ball," Tiffany said. "I told him, 'Maybe you'll get a chance today.' "
Instead, Tiffany made the play.
"He said, 'I called you off, I called you off. I could have had it.' But it was already in my glove, and I told him possession is nine-tenths of the law," Tiffany said, laughing.
The moment was caught by Times-Dispatch photographer Mark Gormus, and the picture has appeared across the country. The Goodwins, who live in Fredericksburg, were unaware of that development until Thursday, when their Internet connection was repaired.
"I didn't realize it had spread to all these different places," she said. "I was kind of shocked to see the responses.
"Some people said 'Awesome.' Some asked about my son's helmet."
Jerry wears a shaping helmet to ensure his skull plates fuse properly. He'll be in the helmet 23 hours a day for the next five months.
Jerry's sisters Elizabeth, 7, and Katherine, 3, are in the picture that has made their mother famous.
The Goodwins do like their baseball.
They have season tickets for the Flying Squirrels. They also attend games of the Washington Nationals, the Potomac Nationals (Washington's Single A team in Prince William County), and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (an independent team in Charles County, Md.).
They hope to get to Baltimore to see the Orioles and Norfolk to watch the Tides.
"We really like watching minor-league games," Tiffany said. "They're more family friendly. And we always take our gloves so we can protect the kids and ourselves."
The Goodwins have plenty of history with their gloves. Allen, 38, is in the U.S. Air Force. While stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Tiffany played for two softball teams, plus the coed team on the base. Allen played for three teams, plus the coed team on the base.
Allen now works in the Inspector General's office at the Pentagon. In almost 13 years of marriage, the Goodwins have lived in eight places and expect another deployment in June 2012.
Wherever they go, they'll always have the Flying Squirrels' moment.
"What I love about the picture is that Jerry is laid back, just eating his biscuit," Tiffany said, "and the reaction on my husband's face."
All this begs the question, is Tiffany as good with the bat as she is with the glove?
"I'd like to think so," she said.
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