With nearly 60 years of experience, Roger Owens has an array of styles when it comes to hurling bags of peanuts at Dodgers baseball games. Video broadcast Wednesday Oct. 25, 2017 on Today in LA. Credit: James Wulff
When it comes to chucking peanuts, Roger Owens does it with style.
Owens has been part of the Dodgers game day experience for nearly 60 years. He's the Peanut Man who hurls strikes to fans in the stands with Clayton Kershaw-like accuracy and the flare of Yasiel Puig.
Owens has a variety of styles. His NBA shot looks like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Skyhook. Sometimes, he deftly tosses a bag under one leg.
But his signature move is a behind-the-back toss that Owens makes look easy.
"When it comes behind the back, the power that I get is not in the arm," said Owens, demonstrating in his backyard. "It's the flick of the wrist. It's kind of like a launch pad. When that arm goes behind the back, all the power comes from my wrist."
From there, the bag soars with a lazy arc -- right into the waiting hands of a fan.
Owens started working at Dodgers games in 1958, when the team still played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He was a pitcher at Manuel Arts High School, just south of the stadium, when his father suggested he get a job selling soda at games.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
The promising young star with the golden arm soon rose through the ranks.
"I started on soda, worked my way up to frozen chocolate malts, and I got to peanuts before the season ended in the first year," Owens said.
He's been delighting Dodgers fans ever since.
