I came to know Tim Layana while working part-time at Slamo Batting Cages in West Los Angeles, California. Tim was a part-time instructor who would come to the cages occasionally to give a pitching lesson or to hang out. Eventually we came to know each other and one day said his mom, Carol, needed a tenant. I accepted, since I had been living in a hotel for a year and a half while somewhat pursuing acting jobs.
This was a great time in my life. One of those periods you go through where everything is completely carefree, and one has no worries. I had not had this much fun since I was a kid.
Moving into the Layana household was one of the best experiences I have ever had. For starters, tenants are considered family for the most part and participate in the large family’s many events and activities. Second, I could never have managed to stay in L.A. for as long as I did without staying in their house. Layanaland is how the Layana household is known to the many family, friends, and tenants who visit or have stayed in this Culver City, California home. For starters, you get full cable TV, all food is included in the rent, (Carol does all the shopping), and you get full run of the household. You get all of this at a more than reasonable price with fun, good people.
All the while I had thought I was just going to get a little nice room in a household. Tim knew what I was going to get and I never could have imagined how much good it was going to do me.
The Layana household is a throwback to ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ days. These are an extremely rare bunch of people with the likes of a family that is almost impossible to find today. These were like the people I remember in my youth in the 70’s and early 80’s. I would like to say that there would be no problems in the world today if it were filled with these type of people.
One of Tim's brothers, another friend, and myself spent Tim’s last day with him on a golf course in Bakersfield, California. The four of us were playing party in a charity golf tournament to raise money for juvenile diabetes. I never did get Tim back for the pranks he pulled on me that day. He pulled the, “loose golf bag strap on the golf cart” four times on me that day without me even knowing about it until five or six days later. This little stunt involves undoing the clasp that holds your golf club bag on the back of your cart so that when you hit the gas, your bag falls off and you have to go back to get it. All the time, I had been really pissed because I thought I had a defective clasp.
On Tim’s last hole of golf, he bet the other two that I could drive the ball to a certain point. I had really had a horribly exceptional round of golf that day but I managed to squeeze it out and won us a couple of bucks.
About an hour later at the luncheon that followed, and while eating with the other two in our party, I said, “Where is Tim?” Looking around, I saw Tim sitting there eating lunch with a young kid named Cooper Westerkamp. Cooper, as it turned out, was one of the youths we had been playing in the golf tournament for. Cooper had Type I diabetes and Tim had taken it upon himself to seek him out and sit down and have lunch with him. Tim encouraged Cooper to stand up, when he was called out at the luncheon, and gave the kid a huge round of applause. Tim then went out to his Blazer and signed a few of his baseball cards and came back in to give them to Cooper. Cooper was absolutely astonished by all of this, but people who really knew Tim Layana were not.
Aside from all the fun he had in his life, and the pranks he pulled, kindness was as big a part of Tim Layana as anything else. He had a very nonchalant way of doing good things that made you eventually realize that this was the way he did things, no matter what you may have thought. Tim and I also ended up carrying the brunt of the leftovers out of the banquet hall that afternoon while we gave his brother and our other friend a hard time about being lazy.
One other memory I would like to briefly mention is that Tim loved his dogs the way he loved people. One day, Tim and I were sitting in the veterinarian’s office with his golden retriever, Huck, and waiting to see the vet. Tim would sit there and look at Huck and say, "Huck, who's the greatest home run hitter of all time?” Huck would sit in front of him, head half-cocked, and bark twice for Babe Ruth.
We all miss Tim dearly. Naturally, our circle of friends, and his family, is not like it was. Writing this, I realize that things will never be as they were. I helped drag my friend out from underneath a Blazer that was hit, rolling three times, that afternoon to no avail. I was, and I am, thankful to be alive, as his brother Mike Layana and Bruce Taylor are. I am thankful for that, but we all wish we could see the real thing again.
Finally, I would like to say that if any future baseball star happens to come across this article and wonders how to become a REAL star, then take heed of what Tim Layana was all about. Though Tim’s Major League Baseball career was short, I would like to thank Mr. Lou Piniella, should he come across this, for giving Tim his chance and allowing him to realize his dream. That was a BIG DEAL for him. He was proud of his career and what he was able to contribute to Cincinnati’s 1990 World Championship. He had his ring on at the time of the accident.
Baseball was his life and Tim had undergone a very hard and frustrating transition from baseball to regular life. We all believe, however, that he had found his calling in teaching, and especially in high school baseball coaching. I believe he was quickly becoming fulfilled by it all.
I am very certain that Tim plays at least one full game of baseball a day now and probably splits the other half on those great golf courses in the sky. We will all play, and enjoy watching him play, again one day.
» Greg Hoel is a family friend and was a victim in the accident that took the life of Tim Layana.
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Copyright © 2001 by Greg Hoel. Posted August 6, 2001.
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