Managing to cover all of the bases
Cain comes through at work and at home
Lorenzo Cain parks in the lot at Miller Park and zips through the back tunnel on his scooter to the clubhouse. He's a few minutes early – but not too early. It's been a busy day already. He was swimming at the pool with his three sons.
The previous day, it was the slides and swings at the park.
The day before that, the movies, "Toy Story". Last week it was "Aladdin". It will be "Lion King" next.
Some days, Cain's a little worn out, even with his wife there. The baby gets up at 4 or 5 a.m.. If the 3-year-old and 4-year-old wake up too, they really don't care that Daddy is a star outfielder for the Brewers, Milwaukee's unofficially crowned Gold Glover, who played a game the night before and will need to play again tonight. No, kids this age need a glass of water or breakfast or hugs or answers to the whys and an audience to direct their little bundles of energy.
So some days, Cain's tired.
If being in your 20s is all about getting a career established, and the 40s are, hopefully, about reclaiming some free time and me time, every working parent will tell you after a third cup of coffee that the 30s are a blur of hours and days and weeks devoted to work and raising a family. And Cain, the 33
year-old, 10-year pro and centerfielder for the Brewers, will not neglect his role as father for his role as major-leaguer.
“It's draining, it really is; I will be honest,” said Cain. “I want to spend time with them. I will be doing this (baseball) for eight months; you can't just take eight months off from your kids.
“I try to love ‘em, spend as much time as I can, and then come here and perform each and every night. It's tough.”
Let's be clear: Cain was not complaining. Not even close. He was simply obliging this questioner with a series of questions, mostly related to how Cain finds himself like so many others of his generation, chasing that work-familylife balance. The one distinction, of course, is the high-pressure nature of his job on a team fighting for the playoffs.
But it's easy to understand why Cain makes his kids a priority. His father died when he was 4, and while he will say that the circumstances were tough, he'd rather not talk about it. But he will be the dad that he never had.
And his mom showed him not to be afraid to work his tail off for what he wants.
Patricia Cain raised Lorenzo and his older half-brother by herself. She worked tirelessly to provide for them, first at the printing company (where she is still employed), and then extra jobs including as a police officer for a while in their hometown of Madison County, outside Tallahassee, Florida. Otherwise she worked at a store in the mall, or somewhere else.
It meant getting up at 5 a.m. and going to one job, coming home for an hour, and then heading out to a second job, and getting home late, sometimes midnight. This is what Cain saw in his middle school years. Patricia was his role model for a work ethic, and she wasn't just working to put food on the table and pay bills.
“She was a mom that she made sure her kids were well-dressed,” said Cain. “She didn't want us going out, looking any kind of way.
“And if we wanted a certain video game, or new shoes, she would always find a way to go out and provide it.”
As Cain has adopted Patricia's work ethic, he is proud of the fact he's won a World Series, has been a two-time allstar and has been honored with postseason and defensive awards. He also ranks taking care of his mom right up there with these. He bought her a new house and new car.
“I knew if I ever got this opportunity, got the chance to pay her back, I knew I would do it in a big way,” said Cain.
But now, there are little kids who need his attention and affection. And that takes time, not money.
The pro baseball schedule is the most demanding in all of sports. Spring training starts in February. Games are almost every day from April until September, not including playoffs. Players are in the clubhouse by 3 p.m. (or earlier) for a 7:10 p.m. game, and usually filing out of the park at 11 p.m. or midnight. When they're not in Milwaukee, the Brewers are chasing their next work destination in airports and shuttles.
It's not a schedule conducive to family life.
But while there were other driving factors early in his career to motivate Cain to work hard, there's nothing better than the boys running around the clubhouse in their pajamas after a game. Or when he comes home, having all three of them come bounding for the door, even the little one trying to run already.
“In-season I let them get away with a lot more than I would offseason,” said Cain, with a laugh, “because I don't see them as much. So I try not to be too hard on them.
“You could be 0 for 5, five strikeouts or whatever and they're still: let's go play."
Within earshot, pitcher Jimmy Nelson hears the conversation and nods, knowingly: “I got two of them thannnnngs” he says, and they both laugh.
And yet while fatherhood makes a pro's life more challenging, there's even more work ahead.
Cain is still making incredibly athletic plays in the outfield, robbing opponents of doubles and singles and even home runs. This gift takes work to maintain these days.
When Cain started working with trainer Tim Overman in Oklahoma eight years ago, while he was fighting off injuries that dogged him early in his career, he realized he also could strengthen his talents. And so every offseason since, for five days a week from Nov. 1 until the season starts, Cain tries to delay the aging process.
“We worked on my running style more than anything. It was causing a lot of my injuries,” said Cain. “I would reach out and claw. (Cain demonstrated with his right foot extended, clawing at the clubhouse floor).
“Now it's more drive straight up and down rather than reaching or clawing, which puts more stress on your hamstrings.
“I've kind of cleaned that up; I kind of revert back to it every now and then, but for the most part, I'm out there consistently running the correct way. That decreases my chances of hammys and other injuries.
“Let me knock on wood real quick.” Cain knocks on a locker wall. Can't blame him. Cain has been fighting through a thumb injury for months.
“Training. I'm not going to say I love it. But I know I have to do it – because I'm getting older,” said Cain. “I need to stay on top of my training to play at a level where I can perform every night.
“I'm getting older and my speed is slowly leaving me. I'm trying to keep it as long as I can. I can kind of feel it. …You never saw me back in the day when I used to run. I used to fly back in the day.
“I still feel like I'm moving great, but back then I could just wake up and just go. And now it takes a lot more. Foam roll sessions, hot tub, cold tub, trainers. There's a lot more that goes in to it.”
So much more than what we see for a three-hour game. Cain has a full plate right now. A high-pressure, performance-based job. A young family at home. A season to fight for, a career to extend.
In some ways Lorenzo Cain is like so many of us, just trying to get through the day.
It's a standard so high most of us could never relate.
“When you don't get it done, it's very frustrating – because we have all worked so hard to go out there and be successful,” said Cain. “This year is definitely not going the way I want, as far as me swinging a bat, but at the same time, I try to continue to have fun, continue to try and make plays.
“And do everything I can to help this team win.”