Astros honor Berkman and Oswalt in pregame ceremony

First pitch was a little more than an hour away Saturday night, yet Astros manager Bo Porter and his players quietly and surprisingly filed into the back rows of a conference room at Minute Maid Park to wait patiently for Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman.

Berkman noticed the 2014 Astros and told them they were free to beat it at any time to prepare for their game against the Angels. Porter, the players and the coaches remained in the room, catching a bit of a history lesson from the men who catapulted the franchise to its greatest glory.

Oswalt and Berkman signed one-day personal services contracts to retire as Astros, giving the franchise a chance to honor them with a pregame ceremony.

Over the last decade Roy and Lance have been the Houston Astros, said team president Reid Ryan.

Berkman and Oswalt were presented with personalized rocking chairs that had plaques of their career accomplishments, white felt Stetson hats and framed replicas of their 2005 World Series jerseys. They each will receive one of the Texas flags that flew at the state capitol in Austin.

This is our home, said Oswalt, who was traded in July 2010 to the Phillies. This is our home team.

Berkman was taken in the first round out of Rice in June 1997, and he made his debut in 1999 before establishing himself in the majors for good in 2000. Oswalt was picked in the 23rd round of the 1996 draft. He signed before the next years draft and made his debut with the club in 2001. He eventually finished second all-time in the franchises career victories list with 143.

Although he was overshadowed somewhat by Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, Berkman finished his Astros tenure with the franchises highest career slugging percentage (.549), on-base percentage (.410) and OPS (.959).

Berkman also led the Astros offense during the 2005 playoffs as they reached the World Series for the first time in franchise history when Oswalt won Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Oswalt and Berkman also played leading roles in 2004 when the franchise won a postseason series for the first time and got within a victory of reaching the 2004 World Series before losing the 2004 NLCS in seven games against the Cardinals.

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Astros honor Berkman and Oswalt in pregame ceremony