Former Oriole Melvin Mora Becomes U.S. Citizen
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- He's taken center field in front of 40,000 plus baseball fans, but former Baltimore Oriole third baseman Melvin Mora, said he was more nervous in a room of just 100 people as he took a big step Wednesday.
Mora, who has called Baltimore home for 17 years, started his family in Charm City. Wednesday, his six children and wife, watched him as he became a citizen at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
He made fans proud for years hitting home runs as a Baltimore Oriole, but his smile Wednesday wasn't from his work on the field, but about what he experienced and his family witnessed.
A moment so dear to Mora and his family, that his wife captured it all on her cell phone.
"I say, what am I doing? I've [played baseball in front of] 40,000 people and now my hands are shaking here. It's a different feeling, but it's special for me," Mora said.
"And I think up until this recent year did he realize how important [he] as U.S. Citizen could contribute to people like him, being a man of color, and being a Latino man," his wife Gisel Mora said.
Baltimore first met the Mora family when the kids were just 7 years old as the family made a donation to the to Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.
It's where the quintuplets were born two and half months early.
Now that the kids are older, they're helping dad with his citizenship test.
"So now I want to learn more and more and more about the United States. You know, when you have good teachers, you can do everything. This is a real special day for our family and we have to enjoy that," Mora said.
Mora submitted the application back in November and his wife said they've been talking about this for 15 years.
Mora was not alone taking the oath, 60 people from 31 countries also became U.S. citizens.
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