Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
VERDUGO VIEWS:
Native tosses Dodger peanuts
By KATHERINE YAMADA
Famed Dodger Stadium peanut man Roger Owens, who celebrates 50 years with the Dodgers this season, was born in the Glendale Sanitarium on Feb. 14, 1943, and spent his first years in nearby Eagle Rock.
Roger was the first child born to Ross Owens Jr., a minister who also worked as a shipping clerk at a pickle factory, and Mary Owens, a registered nurse from New York.
The family lived in a rural area.
“The neighbor next door had chickens and other animals on his property,” said Owens in a recent interview. “We rented a place that had an old bus — complete with spider webs — at the back of the property. We used to play on the bus, but I don’t recall much about those times,” he added.
“I was the first of nine. We were always a poor and humble family.”
With several other children following in quick succession, the Owens moved often.
“My father was an ordained Baptist minister from Tulsa, Okla.,” he said. “He couldn’t really afford all those children. As our family grew, we were always behind in our rent. If it wasn’t for the neighbors’ help with food and clothing, we never would have made it,” Owens said.
According to his biography, “The Perfect Pitch,” written by Daniel S. Green, the Owens were living in National City near San Diego when Mary Owens had a mental and physical breakdown and went to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino.
“Dad couldn’t afford to take care of us, so we had to go into foster homes,” Owens said. “It broke his heart.”
The girls went to a San Diego County foster care ranch, while he and his brothers lived in three different homes in five years.
“There was no medication for depression in those years, just shock treatment,” Owens said.
Their father reunited the children after some years, moving them to a rental at 45th and Hoover streets, near the Coliseum. Their mother visited periodically.
Owens enrolled at John Muir Junior High and worked as a stock boy at a drug store, then sold newspapers on the street corner. Later, as he recounted in his biography, he turned their yard into parking spaces on L.A. Rams game days.
Owens was a box boy at a supermarket when the Dodgers arrived.
“The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and it was the talk of the town,” Owens said.
Like hundreds of others, Owens determined to get a job at the Coliseum.
Vending work was on a day to day basis, with potential workers vying for the concessions manager’s attention by jumping up and down and yelling. Finally, after months, he was hired to sell 7-Up and began to work regularly.
Owens was a pitcher on his baseball team at Manual Arts High in 1959 when he decided to give up the team — and his job at the store — and do commission-based vending with the Dodgers. He quickly moved from the heavy-lifting-soda-pop job up to ice cream and then, within a year’s time, to selling the more lucrative bags of peanuts.
“Now it takes a new person almost 20 years to move to the top,” he said.
Seven years after her breakdown, his mother recovered and came home.
“She renewed her R.N. license and became the major bread winner in the family,” he said.
When the Dodgers opened their new stadium in 1962, Owens was there. Soon he perfected his art of tossing bags of peanuts to eager fans. And he expects to be back at the Coliseum on March 29 when the Dodgers celebrate their 50th with an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.
KATHERINE YAMADA can be contacted by calling features editor Joyce Rudolph at (818) 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history, visit the Glendale Historical Society’s web page www.glendalehistorical.org; call the reference desk at the Central Library at (818) 548-2027; or call (818) 548-2037 to make an appointment to visit the Special Collections Room at Central from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Roger was the first child born to Ross Owens Jr., a minister who also worked as a shipping clerk at a pickle factory, and Mary Owens, a registered nurse from New York.
The family lived in a rural area.
“The neighbor next door had chickens and other animals on his property,” said Owens in a recent interview. “We rented a place that had an old bus — complete with spider webs — at the back of the property. We used to play on the bus, but I don’t recall much about those times,” he added.
“I was the first of nine. We were always a poor and humble family.”
With several other children following in quick succession, the Owens moved often.
“My father was an ordained Baptist minister from Tulsa, Okla.,” he said. “He couldn’t really afford all those children. As our family grew, we were always behind in our rent. If it wasn’t for the neighbors’ help with food and clothing, we never would have made it,” Owens said.
According to his biography, “The Perfect Pitch,” written by Daniel S. Green, the Owens were living in National City near San Diego when Mary Owens had a mental and physical breakdown and went to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino.
“Dad couldn’t afford to take care of us, so we had to go into foster homes,” Owens said. “It broke his heart.”
The girls went to a San Diego County foster care ranch, while he and his brothers lived in three different homes in five years.
“There was no medication for depression in those years, just shock treatment,” Owens said.
Their father reunited the children after some years, moving them to a rental at 45th and Hoover streets, near the Coliseum. Their mother visited periodically.
Owens enrolled at John Muir Junior High and worked as a stock boy at a drug store, then sold newspapers on the street corner. Later, as he recounted in his biography, he turned their yard into parking spaces on L.A. Rams game days.
Owens was a box boy at a supermarket when the Dodgers arrived.
“The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and it was the talk of the town,” Owens said.
Like hundreds of others, Owens determined to get a job at the Coliseum.
Vending work was on a day to day basis, with potential workers vying for the concessions manager’s attention by jumping up and down and yelling. Finally, after months, he was hired to sell 7-Up and began to work regularly.
Owens was a pitcher on his baseball team at Manual Arts High in 1959 when he decided to give up the team — and his job at the store — and do commission-based vending with the Dodgers. He quickly moved from the heavy-lifting-soda-pop job up to ice cream and then, within a year’s time, to selling the more lucrative bags of peanuts.
“Now it takes a new person almost 20 years to move to the top,” he said.
Seven years after her breakdown, his mother recovered and came home.
“She renewed her R.N. license and became the major bread winner in the family,” he said.
When the Dodgers opened their new stadium in 1962, Owens was there. Soon he perfected his art of tossing bags of peanuts to eager fans. And he expects to be back at the Coliseum on March 29 when the Dodgers celebrate their 50th with an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.
KATHERINE YAMADA can be contacted by calling features editor Joyce Rudolph at (818) 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history, visit the Glendale Historical Society’s web page www.glendalehistorical.org; call the reference desk at the Central Library at (818) 548-2027; or call (818) 548-2037 to make an appointment to visit the Special Collections Room at Central from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Save/Share
 |
 |
|
| ON THE TOWN: Dash gets off to a running start |
VERDUGO VIEWS: Bandit terrorized region in 1870s |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of glendalenewspress.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
Not registered yet?
RSS