On the day he returned to Oklahoma, the day after the Brewers released him last June, Lorenzo Cain convened his cabinet of advisors to discuss his future.

Cain was only a couple months past his 36th birthday when Milwaukee cut him. He had been playing baseball professionally for 18 seasons, ever since he boarded a plane with tears in his eyes and left home in Florida for Arizona in the spring of 2005. His career did not have to end. There was interest from the Dodgers, Cain recalled. Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright sent him a text. He heard from players on the Phillies. No longer was Cain a dangerous hitter, but his skill as a center fielder still elicited feelers.

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So Cain consulted his three children — Cameron, Jayden and Landon, ages eight to five — and asked what he should do.

“I left it in the hands of my boys,” Cain said. “I said, ‘Hey, do you guys want Daddy to continue to play ball? Or are you ready for Daddy to be done and go home?’ And they said, ‘Dad, we want you to go home.’ And I said, ‘OK, then.’ So I’ve been done. I just haven’t announced it, I guess.”

So consider this the official announcement: Lorenzo Cain has retired. He contacted The Athletic this week to pass along the news, which the industry will not find shocking, because he does not use social media.

Cain, a two-time All-Star and Gold Glove award winner in center field, finished his career in Milwaukee, but spent the majority of his career with Kansas City. He will return to Kauffman Stadium this summer for an official retirement ceremony as a Royal. Cain suggested the tentative target for the event was May.

The Royals acquired Cain, along with shortstop Alcides Escobar, from Milwaukee heading into the 2011 season, as part of a package for American League Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke. Cain starred in the outfield and batted third for Kansas City when the club captured back-to-back American League pennants in 2014 and 2015. In the last game of the 2015 American League Championship Series, he scored the contest’s winning run, racing all the way from first base on a single. In the decisive World Series game against the Mets, Cain laced the double that iced the victory.

“He’s going to be a Royal Hall of Famer,” Kansas City general manager JJ Picollo said. “Just the times that he rose to the occasion speaks volumes about what type of competitor he was. I don’t think he had the prettiest swing. I don’t think he was the most talented guy. But when it was a big moment, he loved those moments. And that was pretty special.”

Our next member of the KC Class of 2023 is @Royals legend Lorenzo Cain #WhereTheGameLivesOn

— Missouri Sports Hall of Fame (@MoSportsHall) March 2, 2023

Cain’s agent, Damon Lapa, floated the idea of retiring as a Royal to the team last week. Kansas City officials are figuring out the logistics. Picollo indicated it was important to honor a player he called “a big piece” of franchise history. “Years from now,” Picollo said, fans who grew up watching those teams “are going to talk about Lo Cain. That was a guy who just energized the team and the city.”

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The Royals have not reached the postseason since 2015. Cain departed the organization after the 2017 season and returned to the Brewers on a five-year, $80 million contract. Cain finished seventh in National League MVP voting in 2018 as Milwaukee reached the National League Championship Series. He opted out of the pandemic-altered 2020 season to spend time with his family. In 2022, with his batting average stalled at .179, the Brewers designated him for assignment on the day Cain reached 10 years of service time.

A decade in the majors is considered a significant achievement for any player. For Cain, it qualified as even more impressive. He never played organized baseball before his sophomore year of high school at Madison County High in Madison, Fla. When he caught balls in the outfield for the first time, he wore his glove on the wrong hand. As a 17th-round pick, he battled a variety of injuries and spent the majority of seven seasons in the minors.

“Definitely been blessed to, to make it as far as I did,” Cain said. “Because coming into it, I wasn’t 100 percent sure that things would go the way I wanted. And things ended up exactly the way I wanted.”

He added, “I went to some All-Star Games. Won a championship with some great teammates in Kansas City. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a blast. I couldn’t really ask for more.”

After joining the Royals, Cain prospered both on the field and off it. He made more than $100 million in his career. He said he has purchased some commercial real estate near his home in Norman, Okla., and is hoping to build a string of pharmacies and medical facilities. He spends a good portion of his time with his children. He chauffeurs them to school. This winter, he coached their basketball teams. As he segued into a life after baseball, Cain referenced a piece of wisdom once provided to him by longtime Royals coach Rusty Kuntz.

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“He told me,” Cain said, “if I ever get the opportunity where I could make a lot of money in his game, he said, ‘Go ahead and enjoy that family time as much as you can.’”

(Top photo of Cain in 2014: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)