It was only a matter of time before Roger Owens, the beloved Dodger Stadium peanut man, came out with his own tell-all book. After 45 years of pitching more than 2 million bags of goobers to the Hollywood elite, as well as the rest of the Southern California fair-weathered eccentrics, he had to have heard thousands of salty stories between racing up and down the aisles and turning change for a $20.

He tells it all, all right.

All about perseverance, humility and responsibility. All about the importance of being honest, resourceful, and accepting who you are. All about having a strong faith, pride and a sense of humor in times of real pain.

All because it's the truth.

"I found this slogan once that read: If you love your job, you'll never have to work another day in your life," Owens said, reciting it right out the book, "The Perfect Pitch," written by Daniel S. Green, who happens to be his nephew.

"That's just the way I feel about pitching peanuts. Once I'm in the ballpark and the game starts and I throw a few bags, I forget all my troubles and I'm there to be with the people and create some happiness."

To understand what Roger the Dodger preaches, consider his journey from poverty. He's the first of nine children to a father who was a Baptist minister and a mother who suffered a mental breakdown and had to be put in a state hospital. Split up from his siblings and living in foster homes at age 10, he eventually helped pull his family back together to live in a one-bedroom home in South-Central Los Angeles during times of racial strife in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Dodgers' move to L.A. gave him his first real job at age 15, selling sodas at the Coliseum, finally working up to the peanuts. His goal to become a policeman essentially ended when, as an Army Reserves enlistee, he endured a terrible jeep accident in 1969. A skull fracture left him in a coma for four days, leading to three brain operations.

Yet summer after summer, he continued to entertain the patrons in the orange loge section with his under-the-leg and behind-the-back tosses of bags that once cost a quarter but today go for $5. Local recognition turned into national celebrity, which continues to this day.

It's all there in the book, giving a rich perspective to those fans who have come to consider Owens as much a part of the Dodger Stadium landscape as the palm trees, the mountain view and Vin Scully's voice.

The most recent chapter of his life, which didn't quite make it into the book, is another example of his ability to trust and hope.

More than 20 years after his first marriage ended in divorce, Owens has fallen in love again. Sharon Shannon of Chatsworth, a widow with a grown son, answered a simple personal ad she found in the Daily News about a year ago, not knowing it was the famed peanut pitcher she was about to meet and, eventually, accept a proposal from.

The wedding is this Saturday on Valentine's Day -- also Owens' 61st birthday -- at the First Methodist Church in Burbank.

"Everyone who sees us says it was meant to be, a gift from heaven," Owens said.

To hear how the honeymoon went, track him down on opening day in a few weeks. He may even tell you all about it. "The Perfect Pitch" can be ordered online at http://www.rogerowenspeanutman.com/ Tom Hoffarth can be reached atthomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com and (818) 713-3661.