Oswalt was not seen by a lot of scouts. "I went to a real small high school in Mississippi," he said. "We had only 32 people in my senior class, so there weren't a lot of scouts hanging around to watch our games. In fact, it was my football coach who got me a scholarship to Holmes Junior College (Miss.)."

Roy was a receiver and defensive back, scoring eight TD's as a receiver and made five interceptions on defense. He played football because the school didn't have a baseball program until Roy came along.

<font ""times"""="" size="" ""3""""="" new="" """"""="" roman"="">"Roy was more interested in his baseball," Bates said. "So his Dad talked with the school to institute a baseball program."

<font ""times"""="" size="" ""3""""="" new="" """"""="" roman"="">Kenny Dupont, a former Baltimore Orioles scout and baseball coach at Holmes Community College in nearby Goodman, first saw Oswalt at a high school game.

High school aged kids in Weir spent most Saturday nights building bonfires or going mud-riding. "You know, get your girl, load up the four-wheeler, hit some trails, see who gest stuck," Roy explained.

Oswalt's girl was his 10th-grade sweetheart, Nicole, who eventually became his wife. They now have a daughter, Arlee Faith, who was born in September 2004. (Richard Hoffer-Sports Illustrated-2/27/06)

Roy is soft-spoken. But he is a tenacious competitor on the mound.

"The soft-spoken quality belies the fact that he has an edge to him," former Astros manager Phil Garner says. "It's what we would call in Tennessee, a 'back-country edge.' It's almost like you don't trust anybody that you don't call a homeboy from down the street that you grew up with. But I'll tell you, he is a competitor."

During the 1999 season, Oswalt pitched through a sore shoulder that ended up requiring seven Advil a day to slow the pain down. But listen to how it got fixed over the winter before 2000 spring training:

Roy was working on his hunting truck, a Ford F-150 he'd bought for $1,500. He grabbed a bare spark plug wire and got zapped clear across the garage. He told his wife, Nicole, "My truck done shocked the fire out of me, and my arm don't hurt no more."

Oswalt has four dogs: an English bulldog named Dixie and three "running walkers"—Shorty, Legs, and Buttermilk. Buttermilk received her name because her previous owner worked at an ice cream factory and fed her buttermilk.

In the offseason, Roy used to help his Dad with his timber business back home. His Dad, Billy Oswalt, was born in 1947. But he has the thin, wiry body of a 28-year-old. He also has a bright smile and an easy laugh. Logging can be dangerous work. Chain saws fragment, trees fall. A tumbling log once knocked the whirring saw out of Billy's hands and onto his right foot, cutting straight through his boot. Billy went home and wouldn't let Roy, then 6, see his injury. He got fixed up and went right back to work.

"I could give him all the money in the world," Roy says of his Dad, "and he'd still do this (logging)."

During the 2005 Astros-Cardinals playoffs, Billy went to St. Louis with a few friends see Roy pitch Game 6. An hour after the night game he drove home, rolling in at 6:15 a.m. He was back in the woods at 8:00 a.m. sharp. (Buster Olney-ESPN the Magazine-4/10/06)

In February 2004, Oswalt received the 2003 Darryl Kile Good Guy of the Year Award, in recognition of the character and decency toward teammates, the media and fans, that Roy has.

In September 2004, Roy and his wife, Nicole, celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter, Arlee Faith.

The Oswalts live in a grand house that Roy mostly designed. It sits on top of a knoll in Weir, Mississippi. Above the huge garage is a boys-only rumpus room where he likes to entertain in vistors to his 40-acre home site.

The land is the same land Roy's grandfather once owned and worked. Houston Oswalt was a logger, just 5-feet-5, but a strong man. He used a chain saw every day until he was 78 years old, until his son, Billy convinced him it was time to stop. No problem. Houston Oswalt started growing watermelons—20 acres of them. And he hoed them by hand.

In the summer, Roy and his older brother, Brian, worked for their grandfather, barely keeping up with him, if at all. The Oswalts would hoe and pick melons all day, then load them onto a cart and sell them from a roadside stand, underneath an oak tree on Route 413.

On the other side of Route 413 there is a pond, which brings up this memory from Roy:

"When we were kids, we tried throwing rocks from here to there. I could do it. I never understood why nobody else could."

Uh, well, that pond is a good 100 yards away.

October 2005: Prior to Oswalt taking the mound to pitch Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in St. Louis, Astros owner Drayton McLane wandered into the clubhouse, where he found a mostly empty room. Only Roy Oswalt was there, sitting by his locker and preparing for what turned out to be the game of his life.

McLane wanted to offer an encouraging word or two and make sure his ace right-hander wasn't uptight after the heartbreaking loss the Astros suffered in Game 5, thanks to Albert Pujols.

McLane said, "Roy, this is a key game. We need to win tonight and we'll do something that hasn't been done in 43 years." McLane remembered the 30 or so conversations he had with Oswalt over the years about bulldozers—yes, bulldozers—and decided to use that as a little ammo.

After all, during Oswalt's rookie year in 2001, McLane asked Oswalt what his goals were, expecting the youngster to mention a fancy home, a yacht, maybe a luxury car. But Oswalt told McLane his main goal in life was to own a bulldozer.

So on Oct. 19, McLane, still somewhat shell shocked from the Game 5 disaster, said to Oswalt, "You win this game tonight, and I'll buy you a Caterpillar D6." Oswalt, owner of 40 acres of land in his hometown of Weir, Mississippi, jumped from his chair and told McLane he had a deal.

For those not familiar with the lingo, a Caterpillar D6N XL is a bulldozer—in this case, a mustard yellow bulldozer with a bunch of hydraulics and normally associated with construction of interstate highways. This one is complete with well-placed Astros logos and a price tag of a cool $230,000. Oswalt got the bulldozer in December. (part of above from Alyson Footer-MLB.com-12/19/05)

Oswalt has an affection for heavy equipment. When he was a younger man, he worked many summers for his Dad's logging company.

Oswalt claims that when he was younger, the pain in his sore shoulder disappeared after receiving an electric shock while working on his car.

Former teammate Geoff Blum said, "He swears by it. Maybe he invented a new treatment. You plug yourself into a car battery and win 20 games." (Gordon Edes-Boston Globe-10/25/05)

Roy is a dedicated NASCAR fan, so he was thrilled to watch the 2007 Daytona 500 live, something he'd never been able to do.

"I watch on TV, but we don't get to watch much because we're usually playing when they're driving," Oswalt said.

Still, Oswalt keeps tabs on the racing world, especially Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whom he met during the All-Star Game in Detroit in 2005.

"He came in the clubhouse," Oswalt said. "It was pretty neat. I'll see him on his turf now."

Oswalt has a cameo appearance in the Tracy Lawrence country music video titled "Find Out Who Your Friends Are." Roy appears for approximately 15 seconds in the nearly four-minute video, as a weightlifter who's struggling after his spotter is distracted by a call on his cell phone.

The video was filmed early in 2007 in Enterprise, Alabama.

"It was pretty neat," Oswalt said.

Oswalt has a friend who knows Lawrence and heard the country singer was looking for athletes to be in the video. Along with Oswalt, Cornelius Griffin and Demetric Evans of the Washington Redskins also appear, as do country singers George Jones and Darryl Worley.

Roy and his wife, Nicole, celebrated the birth of their second child on September 18, 2007. It was a baby girl that they named Ainslee.

Roy recalled one of his favorite Christmas gifts when he and his brother were growing up:

"I remember one toy that I loved—a little guy that looked like a baseball player that would pitch little plastic balls. We had these really thick curtains over the windows and our Dad would let us hit the balls into those curtains in the living room. We had fun with it. But I tried to make the player throw harder and it broke. My mom didn't like it too much, but it didn't hurt anything. When you have two boys in the house, you can get a way with a lot.

"We had real trees until I got into junior high. I remember us going on our land and cutting a Christmas tree and bringing it home. My grandfather owned 400 or 500 acres, and we'd find one that was really puffy but short enough to get into the house. We only had eight foot ceilings, so we couldn't get one that was tall," Oswalt said.

February 22, 2008: Roy left the Astros for a few days Simpson, Miss., upon learning of his grandfather's death. His mother, Jean, said she would understand if Oswalt's schedule prevented him from attending the funeral, but the right-hander did not want to miss it.

Oswalt's favorites: Food: Mexican, TV Show: Seinfeld, Movie: Tombstone; Music: Country, Actor/Actress: Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.

Roy also is a bit of a Green Bay Packers fan because, "Brett Favre grew up not too far from me."

Oswalt said that the true sign of success is, "Dedication. If you give everything you got, you can do anything you want to do."

In 2009, Roy was having a restaurant built just outside of the Weir, Mississippi city limits. It is a cafe-type steakhouse that he hopes will give the community a convenient place to spend an evening out on the town.

This is no easy task. While most of us are used to a Starbucks on every street corner and a slew of dining options ranging from Asian food to Mexican to good old American burgers and fries, in Weir, the restaurant experience is less available. Taking the family to dinner often involves a lengthy car ride that runs an hour each way.

"You have to drive 30 miles to go to a restaurant," Oswalt said. "I thought it would be good for the community more than anything."

On April 24, 2010, Roy went back to Weir, Mississippi to assist his parents following the destruction of their home by a deadly tornado. Some of the jerseys Oswalt wore when he was a rookie with the Astros were found hanging in what was left of the surrounding trees. The trophy he won for being named the Most Valuable Player of the 2005 National League Championship Series was broken into pieces.

Trees that had stood for decades were snapped off at the base. His parents' cars were scattered in the woods. His childhood home was a pile of bricks, broken timber and shattered memories

Oswalt's parents were not injured in the ordeal, which was all that truly mattered to Roy. His mother Jean was unharmed after seeking shelter in a closet; his father Billy was not home at the time, away on a hunting trip in Missouri. When the chaos was over, Jean Oswalt looked up to find a Bible that was in the front part of the house had landed at her feet.

Roy's house, which is about one-half mile from his parents' house, wasn't damaged, and neither was the nearby restaurant he opened last year, HomePlate Fish and Steakhouse.

But the powerful tornado was blamed for 10 deaths in Mississippi, including five in Choctaw County, where Weir is located. 

Roy has a unique way of training in the offseason to get into shape—a method he learned during his days in Houston. While preparing in the offseason alongside Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, Roy learned a Navy Seal workout.

"Roger and Andy actually had a lot to do with what my workouts are like now," Oswalt said "They had a Navy Seal workout that they did, and that's what I try to do in the offseason to get in shape."

It makes sense that Oswalt would follow the intense workouts he started while teammates with Clemens and Pettitte. They were three of the best years of his baseball life. The first two years he won 20 games, and the third one he had a league-low 2.98 ERA. The Astros reached the National League Championship Series in 2004 and the World Series in 2005.

Details of the workout include 5 or 6 laps around the field or 80 yard sprints interupted by 50 mountain climbers and 50 crunches.

2013 comeback -- Roy Oswalt still had the competitive drive that won't allow him to just walk away from the game.

So instead of hanging around the house, he found himself in Tulsa, Okla., pitching for the Rockies' Double-A Tulsa affiliate. The desire to play baseball did not die. It still ate at him during the spring, when others were getting ready for the season, and it sent him in search of another chance, which the Rockies provided.

"The biggest thing is the passion for the game," Oswalt said in an interview with ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain. "You go home and think about what you've done for 20 years, and you kind of watch it from the sideline, and you know you can still do it.

"I think that was the hardest part to get over. Seeing the guys play and watching baseball on TV made it even worse. I think the passion for the game kind of got to me, and I knew I had a good many years I could probably still play, and I want to do it until I can't do it [any] more. ... I thought it would be a good time to go back last year, went back and kind of got behind the eight ball early, and this year kind of dedicated myself to it, and got in better shape and should be ready to go."

Oswalt had an opt-out clause in his contract, for around June 20, if he was not in the big leagues.

Jan 22, 2019: Their first year on the Hall of Fame ballot will be the last for former Astros stars Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt. Berkman and Oswalt, two key players in the Astros' rise to National League power in the mid-2000s, both appeared on less than 5 percent of balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, released Tuesday, and will fall off the ballot.

TRANSACTIONS

June 1996: Oswalt was a draft-and-follow for Houston, in the 23rd round, out of Holmes Community College in Mississippi. He signed just before the 1997 draft for $500,000.

February 10, 2005: Oswalt signed a two-year, $16.9 million contract with the Astros. It called for $5.9 million in 2005 and $11 million in 2006. He can earn a bonus of $500,000 for winning the Cy Young, $350,000 for finishing second, and $250,000 for finishing third.

August 29, 2006: On his 29th birthday, Roy and the Astros agreed to a five-year, $73 million contract extension. That keeps him under contract with the Houston club through 2011.

The pact, which has a no-trade clause and an option for a sixth year, will pay Oswalt $13 million in each of the next two seasons and $14 million in 2009. He will get $15 million in 2010 and $16 million in 2011.

The Astros hold a $16 million option for 2012 with a $2 million buyout. Or, Oswalt could opt out of that year and take a smaller payment.

July 29, 2010: The Phillies sent P J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose, and SS Jonathan Villar to the Astros, acquiring Oswalt. The Astros paid $11 million of the approximately $23 million that the 32-year-old righthander was guaranteed through 2011, sources said.

Roy did not demand that his 2012 mutual option for $16 million be picked up by the Phillies, according to one baseball source. Instead, when the Phillies chose NOT to pick it up, his $1 million buyout was increased to $2 million.

May 29, 2012: Oswalt and the Angels agreed on a one-year, $5 million contract.

May 2, 2013:  The Rockies have signed veteran right-hander Roy Oswalt to a Minor League contract and assigned him to extended spring camp.

October 31, 2013: Oswalt became a free agent.  

February 11, 2014: Right-hander Roy Oswalt has decided to retire, according to multiple reports.

April 5, 2014 Oswalt officially retires as Astro.

Roy glares at the hitter to see how he reacts after he fires a ball way inside. Then he will throw a pitch low and away and scan the hitter's face for more clues. "Guys think I'm staring them down," he said. "But they watch ME for signs. Why can't I do the same to them?"

Oswalt has that hardened mound demeanor that lots of young, confident talents might have. But Oswalt has a calm, thinking man's approach to the game that few will ever learn.

When Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte pitch, they are in a competitive trance. But you can joke with Oswalt between innings, and he will tease you—show you he's not worried. Roy does not get nervous. Not at all.

Oswalt has his own game plan for each team he faces. Astros catcher Brad Ausmus said Oswalt shakes off more pitch calls than all the other pitchers on the Houston staff combined. But Ausmus was not complaining, saying in the 2001 season that he might be the best rookie pitcher he'd seen in his career.

He rarely gives up a home run. When he does, he doesn't dwell on the mistake, doesn't sulk or stomp around. He reaches out and practically begs the umpire to hurry up and put a new ball in play so he can move on, take back control.

As a youngster, Roy had seen enough baseball on TV to know that most pitchers start their delivery with one foot parallel to the rubber. This made no sense to Roy. He was trying to drive himself toward the batter, like a sprinter breaking out of the blocks. And sprinters don't plant their feet parallel to the starting line; their feet are pointed forward.

So that's how Oswalt designed his pitching mechanics, with his back foot, his right foot, angled slightly forward. He raises his left foot, pauses slightly, then hurls his body at the batter, more like a javelin-tosser than a sprinter in the end. Nobody else in the majors uses mechanics like these, and no pitching coach would teach them. But hitters have confessed that Oswalt's motion can be unnerving—this wiry 6-footer leaping at them like a mugger. (Buster Olney-ESPN the Magazine-4/10/06)

After being activated from the D.L. on September 8, 2003, Roy went 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last four starts of the season.

Roy Oswalt had more wins in the combined two years of 2004 and 2005: 40 wins, against 22 losses. Despite that great 40-22 record, Oswalt is relatively unknown. A lot of that is because he is modest and low-key. He shies away from notoriety.