Mora Mora Mora: As Power Develops, Melvin Mora Becomes Everyday Player

Melvin Mora is sitting in the tunnel that runs from the Orioles clubhouse to their dugout at Camden Yards. He's talking about his unexpected power surge this year. In 881 previous major league at-bats covering three seasons prior to 2002, Mora had hit just 15 home runs. This year he walloped 15 home runs before he reached even 400 at-bats, and with a week to go before the end of August, he had cleared the fences 18 times.

Teammate Chris Richard walks by and offers an explanation for Mora's muscle. “It's from picking all those kids up,” Richard suggests. He's referring to Christian Emmanuel, Matthew David, Rebekah Alesha, Jada Priscilla, and Genesis Raquel—the Mora quintuplets born a year ago on July 28, 20011. Caring for five kids can be quite a hefty endeavor, but no, that's not the reason Mora is hitting home runs at a greater pace than ever before. Might it be steroids?

“Steroids—what are you talking about?” the generally genial Mora bristles, taking umbrage at the mere suggestion. “I personally don't believe in steroids because I want to live for a long time for my kids, and I know when you put something extra in your body, that's going to kill you. Something your body doesn't accept sooner or later is going to kill you. So why would I want to do something that will make me money in two years if I'm not going to be able to live 15 years for my babies. I don't agree with that.”

So if it's not lifting five babies, and it's not ingesting steroids, to what does Mora attribute his home run power?

Actually, it was a chance meeting with Seattle first baseman John Olerud at second base last season.

The two had been teammates with the Mets in 1999, and Mora always had admired the way the ball seemed to explode off Olerud's bat, even though Olerud didn't have a real power swing. So when Olerud reached second base in a Baltimore-Seattle game in 2001, Mora—who was playing shortstop for tthe Orioles at the time—ambled over and asked how Olerud was able to hitt the ball with such authority.

“He told me to get that power, you need to concentrate on your legs,” Mora relates. “He told me how important it was to work on my legs. So that's what I did all winter, work on my legs and my swing. Now, sometimes I don't even hit the ball that hard, and it's gone. So I say, ‘Wow!'”

It's ironic that leg strength has become the force that provides Mora with his newfound power, because in his days as a youth growing up in Venezuela, he relied much more on his leg muscles for his athleticism than he did at the beginning of his baseball career.

As a youngster, Mora was a boxer and a soccer player, two sports where leg strength is essential. He was such a good soccer player, in fact, that by 15 he played professionally and soon thereafter became a member of the Venezuelan national team.

But when he converted to baseball, he was more interested in generating speed out of his legs than power. So in his workouts and training, he didn't try to build up leg strength the way a boxer or soccer player must.

“When I began playing baseball, I didn't think you needed to build up your legs, because you need speed in baseball,” Mora says. “But after I talked to Johnny, he told me that's important. You don't need to have big legs, but they have to be strong, so you can do what you have to do when you stand up at home plate.”

So that's what he began doing after last season.

“You take a lot of protein and work hard in the weight room,” Mora explains. “That's what I did in the winter time. Last winter I went to Venezuela for a month and worked with a guy who specialized in this, and then I worked also in the offseason with [Orioles conditioning coach] Tim Bishop here in Baltimore. I worked in a weight room in Towson when I lived there. And when I moved to Bel Air [northeast of Baltimore], I found a gym over there, and I got a contract with them for three years.”

Mora's power this year has come as a surprise to manager Mike Hargrove.

“He's a strong guy, but Melvin's value on the ball club is that he swings the bat well, and he hits to all fields,” says Hargrove. “He gets on base, steals bases and scores runs. I don't think any of us look at Melvin as being a power guy, but if he hits 30 home runs, we'll have to reevaluate that. The only thing that concerns me about him hitting a lot of home runs is that it hurts his average and his on base percentage. He's probably most effective when he does use the whole field, although he does have the strength to hit the ball out of the ballpark.”

Mora has been more effective, in virtually all aspects of his game, than the Orioles reasonably could have hoped for, both when they acquired him in a trade from the Mets two years ago, and at the beginning of this season. He has been tabbed as a utility man, one who can fill in both in the outfield and the infield, but not a guy a team should expect to play on an everyday basis.

Yet that's precisely what Mora has done for the Orioles—forcced his way into the lineup virtually every day to become one of the club's most durable players. Through the Orioles' first 129 games in 2002, the 30-year-old “utility man” had played in 121 games—second only too Tony Batista on the club—most frequently starting as the team's leadoff man. He also led the team in runs scored; was second in hits, total bases, doubles, and on-base percentage; third in home runs, RBIs, and stolen bases; and second in the major leagues in getting hit by a pitch. Not bad for a guy who is supposed to be a bench player.

What makes Mora's offensive output even more impressive is that he's been so productive while not having a set position. He's played shortstop, second base, and all three outfield positions for the Orioles this year. In fact, he has hit at least one home run while playing each of those five defensive positions. Although the Orioles frequently say shortstop is not his natural position, they keep using him there every time Mike Bordick goes on the disabled list, as has happened in each of the past two seasons.

The first thing Mora does when he arrives in the clubhouse each day is look on the bulletin board outside the manager's office to learn what position he's playing that night. That way, he knows which glove to get ready—his outfield or infield glove. He's played 60 games in left field, 37 at shortstop, 22 in center field, 12 at second base, and one in right field. Does switching around the diamond so constantly make it difficult to excel at any one position?

“Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on what position you're going to play that day,” he concedes. “But sometimes it's also fun being in different positions. And it can help a lot, because it allows you to help the team and play for a longer time. But at other times it hurts you, because if you play just one position, you can concentrate better on that position, and maybe you can produce more, because you don't get as tired. But if Baltimore wants me to play different positions to help the team, then I'm going to do it. Some days I don't even know what position I'm going to play that day. The first thing I do is look at the lineup to see where I'm playing that day. I work out at all positions. Like I told my wife, though, I'm willing to sacrifice because I love this team. If they want me to do something to give better balance to the team, I'll do it. The way they treat me here is pretty good. My wife wants to stay here. And I told her I want to stay here, too, because of the way they treat us.”

Mora has become one of the few Orioles who now makes his home in the Baltimore area all year. He and his wife, Gisel, bought a large home in Bel Air to accommodate their five babies and visiting family and friends. They recently sold a home in New York. And while they also own properties in Florida and Venezuela, they consider Bel Air to be their full-time residence. Walk into the Orioles clubhouse at almost any moment of any game day and you'll likely find Mora at the center of social activity. He's one of the most jovial players on the team, always seemingly upbeat and full of good cheer.

Sometimes, it's hard to figure out why. His life has been filled with tragedy, and this year has been one of the most difficult for him when it comes to personal grief. His brother, Jose, one of 10 siblings, was murdered in Venezuela in April, and Mora left the team for three days to attend the funeral. Then, not long thereafter, his brother-in-law, Oscar Alvarado, died in New York, and Mora drove there from Baltimore with his wife immediately upon hearing the news. Misfortune also had visited Mora earlier in his life. When he was a six-year-old, he and his father and a sister were walking down a street in Mora's hometown of Agua Negra, in Venezuela, when a gunman appeared and shot his father three times. The father died in his young son's arms.

“It's tough when a lot of things happen to you at the same time,” Mora says of this year's deaths of his brother and brother-in-law. “But it's something you have to deal with. In baseball, you cannot let your personal problems affect you or your career, or you won't be able to perform on the field. I try to keep all of these things out of my mind and do the best I can when I go on the field.”

While it might be difficult, Mora knows that he must blot out thoughts of his personal tragedies while he's in a ballgame.

“I don't think about it, because when I cross the line to go on the field, I forget about my mama, I forget my babies, I forget about everything else. During the three hours of a baseball game, you've just got to concentrate on baseball. And then after that, I go back to thinking about other things that I need to think about. But it's just three hours of playing baseball, so I need to concentrate for those three hours.”

Still, Mora knows that he can't escape the emotions that tragedy bears.

“It's difficult, especially one day after it happened,” he says of his brother's death. “One day after that, you have to go back to being normal. But sometimes it takes you a week, sometimes it takes you two weeks, but you have to program your mind, because you don't want to be unable to do anything. It's tough for people. It's tough for a lot of people to concentrate on what you need to do, especially if they're sensitive. I'm sensitive, but I also know what I need to do.”

Of all his siblings, Mora is closest to a sister who lives in New York. The two of them knew, after their brother's death, that they also had to help their mother, Phillipa, 62, cope with the tragedy, so they have brought her to the United States, Mora says, “so she can think of something else, because in Venezuela, she's never going to forget what happened to my brother.” One way that Mora has helped both his mother and himself deal with their loss is through spending time with his quintuplets. “When she comes to Baltimore, she can play with the babies,” he says of his mother.

And for a man who has had to deal with his own share of grief, Mora considers himself blessed by god because of his five children.

“Their images are always in front of me,” he says, admitting it's even difficult to keep them out of his mind when he's in uniform. “I think about them all the time. Sometimes I want the game to go quickly so I can go and see them. My babies, they're wonderful, they make every day special.”

Mora and his wife have brought the quints to Camden Yards several times, in part to share them with the wives of his teammates, many of whom went out of their way to help the Mora family when the babies were born. Mora mentions the wives of Jason Johnson, Jerry Hairston, Buddy Groom and ex-Oriole Jose Mercedes as being particularly generous and giving in helping ease the Mora's task of bringing five children into the world at one time, both at the hospital and at home. “All the wives were nice to us, and they all wanted to see the babies,” says Mora.

The Moras have a specially built stroller, with five separate seats (the first of its kind ever constructed, according to Mora), to tote the quints around. Mora's beaming smile is even brighter than usual when he brings his babies to the ballpark. To him, they are a blessing that helps counter all the tribulations he's had to deal with in his life, a gift that enables him to handle his career with such aplomb and joy.

“If I have an ugly night at the ballpark, as soon as I see my babies at home, I forget baseball,” Mora says. “When I play with them, I forget everything else. They're so special. People would have to lead our lives to see how wonderful it is. They eat at the same time, they sleep at the same time, they wake up at the same time. It's incredible.”