The news broke Wednesday morning. I read about it on Twitter, received notifications on my phone from MLB and ESPN and all of my baseball friends texted me. My mom even texted me, “Oh happy day!!”

Alex Gordon is coming home.

Throughout the entire 2015 season the idea of Gordon leaving Kansas City lingered around the success for the Royals. Amid the greatest season in franchise history you heard people talk about on television, in newspapers and on sports talk radio. Everybody seemed to be split on what they thought Alex Gordon would do and where he would end up.

After the World Series the questions were still there for Kansas City. At the World Series parade I remember asking myself if this would be the last time I saw Alex Gordon in Royal blue. Then rumors began to circulate about Gordon potentially going to San Francisco, Anaheim or even St. Louis. It made me sick.

From early on this past summer I had made up my mind that Gordon would not be returning to Kansas City and I was all right with it. I continued to try and convince myself that he was asking for too much money or that his production would go way down, but I always hoped deep down that he would come back to the city that he’s called home since being drafted out of the University Nebraska in 2005.

Alex Gordon has been the face of the transformation of Royals baseball in Kansas City. He has been looked at as the future of the Royals since before he even roamed the outfield grass at Kauffman Stadium or wore No. 4.

Before becoming a three-time All Star and four-time Gold Glove award winner, Alex Gordon struggled in the big leagues when the Royals were playing some of their worst baseball in franchise history.

But Gordon came back into the picture as soon as things were starting to clear up. In 2011 he hit 23 home runs and batted .303. The next season he led the league in doubles with 51. By that point every kid in Kansas City wanted to be just like Alex Gordon.

Gordon has been a fan favorite ever since.

At 31 years old Alex Gordon decided to come back to Kansas City as the team’s longest tenured player. Just when you thought sports in Kansas City couldn’t get any better, they did.

The player of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s was George Brett. Mike Sweeney dominated the early 2000s. It’s been Alex Gordon’s team through the first six years of the 2010s. With this four-year contract and regardless of who else on the team sticks around, Alex Gordon will be the player of this generation. He will always be associated with the turnaround of Royals baseball.

Wednesday morning, whether he knows it or not, Alex Gordon secured his statue in right field and locked up his spot on top of the Royals Hall of Fame in left field. No. 4 will sit up there next to two (or more) American League pennants, a World Series banner and the numbers 5, 10, 20 and 42.