OFF THE WALL

Taking the fun out of going to the old ballgame in L.A. We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

You can look up to the broadcast booth at Dodger Stadium, but you won’t see Vin Scully there any more. Next year, you won’t see Jaime Jarrín there.

You can buy a Dodger Dog, but Farmer John doesn’t make them any more, writes Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times.

And, from the list of disappearing Dodger Stadium traditions, this just in: You can buy a bag of peanuts from Roger Owens, but he can’t throw the bag to you any more.

This is an “Only in L.A.” story: the celebrity peanut vendor who can toss a bag of peanuts behind his back, or between his legs.

Owens has pitched peanuts at presidential inauguration festivities, on “The Tonight Show,” and in two movies and three television series in which his role was always the same: peanut vendor. His wedding guests included Tom Bradley, then the mayor of Los Angeles, and Don Sutton, the Dodgers’ Hall of Fame pitcher.

“I would have trouble hitting a wall 15 feet away if I tried to throw a bag of peanuts behind my back,” Sutton told The Los Angeles Times in 1976. “It’s definitely easier to throw strikes with a baseball.”

Owens still is pitching peanuts on the loge level, to fans who have become friends over the decades. Several of those fans reached out to the Times to say Owens has been ordered not to throw bags of peanuts any more. Just hand them to the customer, please. The show has gone dark.

“I’m so heartbroken about this,” he said.

Levy Restaurants runs the concessions at Dodger Stadium. Owens said he was told by Levy representatives to say the decision was made for the safety of the fans. He is not defiant. He is sad. He does not want to pick a fight with Levy, or the Dodgers. He loves his job. He just struggles to understand why a bag of peanuts is a problem.

“They have time to see it coming,” Owens said.

Trivia question

On this date in 1947, the Cleveland Indians purchased the contract of Larry Doby from the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League. Doby became the first Black player to play in the American League. What was his career average?

They said it

From Fark.com: “Kevin Durant the player not happy with the team Kevin Durant the GM has created, demands to be traded to any team which was in the Finals in the last 3 years.”

From comedy writer Marc Ragovin, on Peacock televising the Royals-tigers game today without announcers: “Now if they would only stream it without the players.”

From an unnamed official at a Pac-12 school, to ESPN: “We just got Soonered and Horned.”

From Barrett Sallee of Cbssports.com: “Oregon has left the Pac-12 for the LIV Tour.”

From Bob Molinaro in the Norfolk Virginian-pilot: “What’s next, Rutgers to the Pac-12?”

From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “The Orioles posted a winning record in June, their first plus-.500 month in five years. They didn’t pop any Champagne corks, but they did go to Dairy Queen.”

Trivia answer

Though he only hit .156 in limited time with Cleveland that season, Doby was a career .288 hitter over 17 seasons with 273 home runs.