Lorenzo Cain and the Royals: An understated love song

One day this summer, on an afternoon in Detroit, Lorenzo Cain passed by a television inside the clubhouse when something caught his ear. It was a song — a hit, he thought — catchy and upbeat, and because his mind is wired in a way he cannot quite explain, he couldn’t shake the tune. He strolled past a row of lockers, stopped in front of his own, then turned to no one in particular.

“Goodbye to you!” Cain sang, belting out a falsetto chorus made famous by Patty Smyth. “Goodbye to you!”

Moments later, he let out a deep laugh and flashed a familiar smile.

“That’s an old one,” he said. “You remember that one? Goodbye to you!”

At this point, we can point out that the song was Scandal’s “Goodbye to You”, which depending on your perspective was either a modest rock hit from 1982 or maybe something else. But for Cain, the Royals’ center fielder and musical connoisseur, it was another track to sing on another afternoon in baseball.

His taste is eclectic and obscure — from Fetty Wap to Snow Patrol to Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” His admiration for Motown and the Temptations is deep. His love of music was born when his grandmother, Annie, put on Barry White albums while babysitting.

“The deep voice,” Cain said. “The love songs. The slow jams. That’s how it all started.”

For six seasons, Cain has serenaded his teammates here in Kansas City. They will never forget the voice — the joy and the infectious laughter and the megawatt smile. They will not forget the rest of the story, either. How a gangly, unsure teenager who had never played baseball went out for the high school team and forged a path to the major leagues. How a proud competitor, humbled and ailing, overcame a pattern of leg injuries that threatened his career. How an easy-going kid from Madison County, Fla.a, grew into one of the best center fielders in the world, an understated star on a World Series champion, a perfect straight man for the comedy routines of Salvador Perez.

“He’s one of the best teammates we have,” Perez said. “He never gets mad.”

This, of course, is a weekend for goodbyes here at Kauffman Stadium. Well, possible goodbyes. And Cain is no different.

He arrived almost seven years ago in a trade that sent Zack Greinke to Milwaukee and changed baseball in Kansas City, coming over alongside shortstop Alcides Escobar and pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress. He patrolled center field and leaned back at the plate and flashed his smile after another breathtaking play. And on Sunday afternoon, he could play his last game in a Royals uniform.

“I’ve been here only six years,” he said. “But I feel like I’ve been a Royal all my life.”

Cain will be a free agent this winter. He will be 32 in April. His age will complicate his path back. The Royals will be hesitant to invest significant long-term dollars in an outfielder on the wrong side of 30. Cain has long understood the reality.

“They all know where I stand as far as coming back to KC,” Cain said. “They know I would love to come back here. I said it in the spring, and I’ll say it again now. But at the same time, everyone has to do what’s best for themselves. No one knows what’s going to happen.”

No matter the future, his legacy in Kansas City is secure. He will be in the Royals Hall of Fame some day, the man who won Most Valuable Player honors in the 2014 ALCS and scored from first base on a single in Game 6 against the Toronto Blue Jays the next year.

On teams where the results exceeded the sum of the parts, Cain was the closest thing to a bona fide star, a two-way player who changed games with his glove, bat and legs. Sometimes you just had to dig a little deeper to see the value. Since 2014, he ranks ninth in the American League in Wins Above Replacement (17.8), according to the FanGraphs version of the stat. In the same four years, he is sixth in Defensive Runs Saved. In 2015, the year he finished third in the AL MVP voting, he posted a 6.5 WAR, the third-best season by a Royal in the last 15 years. Only Alex Gordon and Carlos Beltran have been better.

“You can see how valuable he is,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

In some ways, Cain remains a reluctant front man. In the months after his breakout 2015 season, he turned down a handful of minor endorsement offers, preferring to keep low-key profile with his family in Oklahoma. Inside the clubhouse, his playful jousts with beat reporters and Royals vice president of communications Mike Swanson are a window into his personality. Cain would prefer to fade into the background, he says. Cameras make him mildly uncomfortable. In the early days, he had to learn how to navigate a group interview. His preference for privacy manifests itself in humorous ways.

On an afternoon this summer, Fox Sports Kansas City reporter Joel Goldberg approached with a request for a quick interview. And then the game began.

“Hey Lo, can we get you for a minute?” Goldberg asked.

“Really, Joel?” Cain deadpanned.

“Just a minute.”

“Really? Why you want to talk to me?”

“Because people love to hear from you.”

Cain paused for a moment, offering a sly smile.

“C’mon, it’ll just be a minute,” Goldberg said.

“This the last time?”

“OK.”

“This is the last time, Joel,” Cain said. “The last time.”

Moments later, Cain stood up and politely answered questions for a minute. His mouth formed another smile as the interview ended. Even in an attempt to be obstinate, he could not help but be friendly.

“He don’t like cameras,” Perez said. “You know him. He don’t like to talk too much.”

In six seasons, Cain has worked hard to maintain the guise. Yet sometimes it doesn’t quite fit, either. On an afternoon in September, in an interview for this story, Cain sat inside a clubhouse in Toronto and reflected on the last six years. Had it really been that long?

“The ride I’ve been on, the ride we’ve been on,” Cain said. “It’s been amazing.”

As he thought about the World Series runs, about the transformation of a franchise, he thought back to that phone call in late 2010. He had been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. He thought he was their center fielder of the future. Then came word about a trade to Kansas City. He thought about going to a new team. Blending in with new teammates. Finding his way again. Who knew it would be the best move of his career?

“The thing is,” Cain said, “with this group, even when I first got traded over here, I felt like I was part of the group right away. In spring training, it maybe took a week or two.”

This is a rare thing. Maybe it happens elsewhere, Cain says. Maybe it doesn’t. But he didn’t quite understand what he had six years ago. He does now.

“You couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to spend the last six years with,” he said.

Maybe it’s over now. Maybe he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2018. But those answers will come later. For now, he will return home for the offseason. He will spend time with his wife and two young sons, Cameron and Jayden.

Cam was born during the 2014 playoffs, just before the start of the ALCS in Baltimore. He’ll be 3 in a couple of weeks. It really has been that long.

Sometimes, when Cain is at home, he’ll turn on a Motown station on Pandora and let his sons dance to the music. They’re at that age where they’re starting to learn the words, he says. So he’ll sing, and they’ll dance, and pretty soon he can’t get the tune out of his head.

“We’re all out there singing,” he says. “That’s real music. What they made back in the day.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Cain and the Royals: An understated love song."