Their family of eight includes 11-year-old Tatiana, Gisel's daughter by a previous marriage. Melvin chips in with the kids' care when he can. During Orioles homestands, he rises at 6:30 a.m. (after four hours' sleep), drives Tatiana to school and returns to pick up the quints. Then it's home to nap before he heads to the ballpark at 2:30.
"A day in the life of the Moras is not chaos," said Lilly Burgos, Gisel's cousin in Brooklyn, N.Y., who visits them often. "Gisel is very organized and consistent with the children. I told her she's 'Supermom' and that I would get her a big red cape with a gold 'G' on it.
"When Melvin is around, his focus is his kids. Both [parents] believe in talking with their children, not at them. They want to know what they think, how they feel. Melvin plays Pat-a-cake with the girls and rides all of them around the yard on their ATV. He makes mean breakfasts for them, too - Venezuelan corn muffins from scratch, French toast, eggs, bacon and sausage. He's a good cook and those kids are big eaters."
FOR THE RECORD - A quotation displayed with the continuation of a Page One story in Sunday's Baltimore Sun about Baltimore Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora was incorrectly attributed. It should have been attributed to Angela Wigginton, wife of Orioles infielder Ty Wigginton.
The Sun regrets the error.
Sometimes, before home games, Melvin takes the two boys to the clubhouse just to look and listen. Unruly, they are not.
"I tell Matthew and Christian to sit at my locker while I'm in the shower," Melvin said. "When I leave, the players can't believe that the boys don't get up."
Road trips put a strain on family ties.
"We're such a tight unit that [the children] definitely show signs of his absence," Gisel said. "At 3, Rebekah went through a long stretch where she'd sit in her high chair, mope and not get out. The pediatrician said she missed her father. Now we keep pictures of Melvin around the house and a calendar on which the kids can mark off the days until he returns.
"Now, when Melvin says 'I'm leaving,' they ask, 'How many days?' "
Making sacrifices has become a routine for both parents. Money is no issue; Mora, 37, will earn $9 million this year. Still, the children attend public school, where their folks insist they be placed in separate classrooms.
"We want them to be able to speak for themselves," Gisel said.
The Moras remain the talk of their town.
"At school functions, I've had people say, 'Six kids? Better you than me,' or 'If I were you, I think I'd kill myself,' " Gisel said. And she thought, That's why God gave them to me and not you.
"I've heard those comments, too," Angela Wigginton said. She and husband Ty, an Orioles infielder, have three youngsters, ages 4, 2 and 1.
