AFL – Layton Krohn

It’s a long way between Wausau, Wis., and Alexander City,
but those miles are bridged by a lifetime of memories for one
man – growing up on a
northern farm and eventually living out his dream of playing baseball
in the Deep South. Layton Krohn was born in 1925 in Wausau and
knew at a very
early age that the sport would play an important role in his life.
« My goal had been to go play in the majors, » Krohn said
with a hearty laugh. « I guess you could say that I had my
sights set pretty high. » Krohn said some of his earliest
memories involve playing with a hard rubber ball and throwing
it off the outside walls of his house and barns. « There weren’t
any other kids around my age, so I spent a lot of time throwing
that old ball against big barns, some 90 to 100 feet long and

more than 30 feet high, » Krohn said. Krohn’s love for baseball
lead him to a training camp in Orlando, Fla., around 1945. « Back
then, the old Washington Senators baseball team trained in Orlando,
he said. « It was a very small town at that time with mostly
orange juice and custard stands being the only things around. »
Krohn’s time at the school amounted to about six weeks and he
made his way to Brewton, in south Alabama’s Escambia County, to
play in the old
Alabama State League. « I played for two years in Brewton
and late in that second year, I was picked up by the Alexander
City baseball club, which needed some
pitching help at the time, » Krohn said. As the story goes,
Alexander City manager Ed Roberts had come to Brewton with one
of his pitchers to look at first baseman Moose Hope. « I was
pitching the night they came to town and I guess they saw something
because they brought me here and apparently forgot about Moose, »
Krohn said. That move to Alexander City would be one of the most
important Krohn made for many reasons, but things didn’t exactly
begin as he had planned. « I came here with only about a month
left in the season, » Krohn said. « I got into town on
the Greyhound bus and when I got off they told
me I would be pitching that night. « The bad thing was that
my bag didn’t make it with me and I didn’t have anything, so the
players loaned me a glove and some spikes. That night we played
Newnan, Ga. « Everyone knew that Newnan had some of the best
hitting around they were in the top spot in the league we were
playing in, but we wound up winning 5-3 that night. » Krohn
was part of a six-man pitching rotation – four primary pitchers
and two backups – for the12- to 15-man team, which played on average
about 120 games between March and August against opponents in
places as diverse as Carrolton, Rome and Newnan, Ga. « The
four-man rotation had us pitching one night and the following
day we would pitch for batting practice, » Krohn said. « On
the second night, we would be in the bullpen and on the third
night we would rest. » Krohn’s memories of Alexander City
during the years he played with the Millers, from 1949 to 1951,
are vivid.

He remembers fondly playing at the old baseball
field and the board fence that surrounded the outfield. He remembers
team members hanging out at Carlisle Drug Store and townspeople
stopped by to talk baseball. He remembers the road games that
he and fellow players went to in a pair of station wagons.
« We would drive to the game, play, stop and eat somewhere
and drive back home, there wasn’t an idea of spending the night
on the road, » Krohn said. But his fondest
memory involves meeting his future wife Merlene here and going
on to build a family – two sons and a daughter, all who live in
Wisconsin. « You didn’t make a lot playing baseball,
and besides there were few businesses that would hire you for
the months you weren’t playing and let you play the rest of the
time, » Krohn said. « I had to provide for my family and
that’s when I left baseball. » Krohn said he believes he left
the sport at a good time as many of the small town Southern baseball
teams were beginning to fold. « I think these teams did well
because there were few things to do, but with time and more things
for people to do, they gradually went away, » he said. Krohn’s
wife died four years ago, but he has maintained their tradition
of coming to Alexander City during the winter and still spends
time with the many friends and acquaintances made through the
years. « I have many friends at Hillabee Towers and they remember
when
I played with the Millers, » Krohn said. « I also try
to stay in contact with those I played with through the years.
I have made many life-long friendships and that is one of the
greatest things playing the game did for me. »