Choctaw County native Roy Oswalt will be among former and present baseball players who will participate in a “Hot Stove” winter event at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson on Jan. 24.
Others who are scheduled to participate include Mississippi Braves manager Chris Maloney, former major league pitcher Jay Powell and current San Diego Padres outfielder Hunter Renfroe.
The event at the Hall of Fame in Jackson will begin with a reception with food and beverages at 5:30 p.m. There will be a question and answer session with the participants, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Oswalt is a member of the Hall of Fame’s 2019 class. He played baseball and football at Weir High School and was a pitcher at Holmes Community College before being drafted by the Houston Astros in 1996. He reached the Major Leagues in 2001 and was 14-3 with a 2.73 earned run average to finish second behind Albert Pujols in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Oswalt was a 20-game winner in 2004 and 2005, won 19 games in 2002 and was 15-8 with a league -leading ERA of 2.98 in 2006. He finished in the top six in Cy Young voting six times.
Oswalt spent 13 years in the Major Leagues, the first eight with the Astros, three with the Philadelphia Phillies and one each with the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies, finishing with a 163-102 record and an ERA of 3.36.
He is one of six new members of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, a class that also includes Ackerman High School graduate Ricky Black, one the state’s most successful high school football coaches.
Maloney is a Jackson native who played at Mississippi State before playing professional with the New York Mets, St Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers organizations. He was a Cardinal coach for six seasons before becoming Mississippi Braves manager last year.
Powell is a member of the 2017 Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame class. After playing at Mississippi State, he spent 11 seasons pitching in the major leagues, finishing with a 36-23 record and 22 saves. He was the winning pitcher for the Florida Marlins in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
Renfroe, a native of Crystal Springs and graduate of Copiah Academy, led Mississippi State to a runner-up finish at the 2013 College World Series.
He was drafted in the first round that year by the Padres and reached the majors after being named Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player in 2016.
Tickets for the event are $50 and may be purchased online at MSFAME.com.
