It’s not that often we get to do a piece on someone that we’ve spent a few nights in their house and when we do we want to do it right.  Recently, Biz Layton was highlighted for her work behind the microphone for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League.

Cape Cod Times:  Cape League characters: Biz Layton, Harwich announcer and scorer

You may know the league from the hundreds of alumni who have gone on to play professionally with a good amount of those making it all the way to Major League Baseball, and Layton is one of those to go on to professional baseball.

We first met “Biz” in 2003 when travels in the Minors put a season with the Carolina Mudcats, then in the Southern League, on the map.  That year, players like Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera would star on the field leading the team to a league championship, while Biz worked in the front office with group sales and catering.  Her then-boyfriend Ben, worked in operations for the team.  The two would later get married and move back to Harwich where Biz’s mom is the team president of the team she grew up around.  Ben is now the general manager of the Mariners and has familial connections to baseball as well.

Biz first started announcing games in 1994 as a high school student, learning from the previous P. A. announcer Al Graeber.  As she would make her way south just outside of Raleigh, she couldn’t announce games on a regular basis until coming back home, but she’s always been a friendly face no matter which ballpark you found her.