Melvin Mora wanted a boy. He had escaped the violence that claimed his father’s life in Venezuela to make it in the big leagues, and he had found love in his wife, Gisel, and stepdaughter, Tatiana. But he wanted a boy.
“We wanted a boy so we could have a boy and a girl,” Mora said. “Isn’t that what everyone wants, a boy and a girl?”
What Mora wanted and what he got . . . Well, let’s just say he got more than he asked for. On July 28, 2001, Gisel Mora, a petite woman who stands 5-feet-4, gave birth to quintuplets.
More the merrier, meet Mora the merrier.
They’ve become baseball’s version of the Brady Bunch. The roll call starts with the oldest, Genesis, followed by Christian, Rebekah, Matthew and the youngest, Jada.
Gisel underwent fertility treatment because she anticipated difficulty in getting pregnant.
“All it took was one round,” Gisel said. “They didn’t think it was going to be that effective that quickly and that many.”
Tatiana is 13, and her brothers and sisters are 8. It makes for a heartwarming family portrait, but don’t be deceived. There were several months of stress and anxiety after the kids arrived 2 1/2 months premature at weights varying from 1 pound, 2 ounces to barely 2 pounds.
“We talk about it every day, how