For These Guys, This Honor Worth Peanuts

Do Roger Owens and Richard Aller know about this?

Owens and Aller, probably Southern California’s most recognizable ballpark hawkers, are logical nominees for the National Peanut Month Committee’s MVP--master vendor of peanuts.

The award was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of National Peanut Month, coming in March.

In Atlanta, committee spokesman Mitch Head announced that six vendors would be honored and added:

“We’re asking (fans) to nominate people in recognition of their talent, length of service and fan appreciation. It’s a combination of things, from being friendly to having fun with the people to the accuracy of throwing the bag of peanuts to making the proper change.”

Add vendors: Owens, the affable Dodger Stadium regular, has carved a niche for himself with a deadly accurate behind-the-back delivery. He may be the only behind-the-back-throwing peanut vendor ever to appear on “The Tonight Show.” Aller, a schoolteacher by day, relies more on his quick wit. His bag of peanuts--he throws overhand--usually comes with a one-liner. And his special customers can expect anything from political satire to a soliloquy on the all-time superiority of his favorite race horse, Dr. Fager.

Trivia time: Who are the only two players to have been named the NBA’s rookie of the year and most valuable player in the same season?

Large bucket, please: After amateur Phil Mickelson’s victory in the Tucson Open, Lee Trevino said: “Those guys (pros) must be wondering what’s going on. First a 50-year-old man wins more money than them, then an amateur beats them. They better start putting lights up on the driving range.”

He has a point: The Bettsville (Ohio) High girls’ basketball team is winless in its last 122 games.

Third-year athletic director Thom Loomis told Associated Press that the big problem is the school’s enrollment, 47 girls and 42 boys.

He added: “And, going along with that, we do not have a lot of big kids. In basketball, big kids help.”

Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959-60 and Wes Unseld of the Baltimore Bullets in 1968-69.

Quotebook: Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley, on basketball commentator Dick Vitale’s excitability: “Vitale might be the first sports commentator whose TV monitor comes equipped with an air bag.”