They compete in Little League, play computer games and swap their baby teeth at bedtime for crisp $1 bills.
Genesis plays a mean third base. Matthew wants to be a veterinarian. Christian likes sushi. Jada is a budding gymnast. And Rebekah has a crush on the Orioles' Brian Roberts.
The Mora quintuplets turn 8 this summer.
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.
On July 28, 2001, Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora became a biological father for the first time. Also the second, third, fourth and fifth. When they finally wheeled Gisel Mora out of surgery, exhausted, she had mothered an entire infield.
The quints were born 10 weeks premature; none of them weighed more than 2 1/2 pounds. But they have blossomed into healthy, active youngsters with private dreams and distinct personas.
"They are growing up fast," Mora said of his brood. Then he rolled his eyes. "I could write a book," he said.
The quints have reached the age where they'll weigh in on the play of their bigleague dad. If Mora strikes out, for instance, Genesis greets him at breakfast the next morning with, "Keep your eye on the ball, Papi."
"You're right," he'll say.
An active brood
Rising third-graders, they attend Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston and keep their mother on the run. All five take piano lessons. Four play baseball. Two do gymnastics. Softball claims a couple more. And that's just in the spring.
The pace might drive some parents batty. Not the Moras.
"Motherhood is neat," said Gisel Mora, 34. "I thought it would be non-manageable, but it so not is. Every day, I'm taken aback by the things they do and say."
As she spoke, Genesis, the eldest of the five, sidled up to her mom and, out of the blue, declared, "You have to be in your 30s to be a mom."
Gisel Mora looked startled, then smiled approvingly.
"You keep thinking like that," she told Genesis.
Last month, on Mother's Day, each of the kids gave Gisel a hand-drawn card. She oohed and aahed. They beamed and giggled.
Today, the Mora clan motors up to Philadelphia to watch the Orioles-Phillies game and celebrate Father's Day with Papi. That the youngsters are hale and hearty is his gift, Melvin said:
"Every day is Father's Day for me."
' How many babies?'
Gisel was 27 when the quints were born at Johns Hopkins Hospital during Melvin's first full year as an Oriole. Spring training was when the Moras learned that the pregnancy, helped by fertility drugs, was a special one.
