DEREK LOWE What a wild ride for Lowe with the Red Sox in the early 2000s. He made the All-Star team as a closer in 2000. He made it again as a starter in 2002, the year he threw a no-hitter. He was 0-3 in the 2003 postseason but 3-0 the next fall, winning the clinching games in the division series, A.L.C.S. and World Series. The Red Sox let him go after that, but Lowe remained a solid starter for years, helping the Dodgers and the Braves reach the playoffs.

DARREN OLIVER On March 25, 2005, Oliver was pitching for the Rockies in an exhibition game in Tucson when a pack of bees descended on the mound in the fifth inning. The bees chased Oliver away, and while he tried several times to keep pitching, the swarm would not let him. The game was called before the top of the sixth, and afterward, Oliver said that the bees had been attracted to the coconut oil in his hair gel. “I guess I must have smelled good,” he said. “It was kind of funny at first, but after a while, I started getting a little nervous.” On that day, at least, the bees did what Father Time struggled to do: remove Oliver from the mound. The well-traveled left-hander toiled for 20 major league seasons.

ROY OSWALT The Houston Astros issued No. 44 to Oswalt for spring training in 2001. It wasn’t his first choice, but he was a rookie and knew his place. “I wore 18 in high school,” Oswalt said recently, “but Moises Alou had it, and I knew I wasn’t getting it.” When Oswalt went 14-3 that season, he decided that 44 worked just fine and kept it his entire career, which included 143 victories for the Astros, one shy of Joe Niekro’s franchise record. No. 44 is usually associated with sluggers — think Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson and Willie McCovey — but Oswalt is the best pitcher ever to wear it.