Roger Owens
Concessionaire
It's all in the wrist.
Roger Owens, peanut vendor, Dodger Stadium

Over the years, baseball fans have headed to Dodger Stadium to see pitching greats like Don Sutton and Orel Hershiser toe the rubber, but the 63-year-old working the crowd along the third base line has outlasted those legends and dozens more. He never signed a big-league contract, but he's been pitching in the Dodger's home park since it opened in 1962. There's even a picture of him in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Early on in his career, Owens established his singular technique--a behind-the-back peanut pitch that can hit a customer dead square in the hands from 30 rows away. He perfected it at home, tossing peanuts at invisible patrons on his couch.

"The secret is not in the arm but in the flick of the wrist--that gives the power," he says. "I can actually throw it farther behind my back than over my shoulder. My thumb holds the bag and my fingers do the guiding."

He tosses 250 bags a night, or over 20,000 a season--well over a million during his career--and has inspired imitators from Seattle to Houston. Owens also has a dozen "season peanut holders" who pay him in advance for their $5.50 bags and for some quality schmoozing time during the game.

Owens alters the speed and delivery of his pitches to suit different situations. "There is my 'knuckle bag,' which I throw underneath my legs with a leg kick and lots of spin," he says. "That flutters around a bit, so I don't throw that too many times. I will not throw it with much velocity to a young child. For a senior citizen I give the bag more arc so they can see it coming and get ready. Even if I hit them right in the hands, if they drop it, I look bad." -- By Matthew Boyle
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.