6 inducted into club’s Hall of Fame
’20 class honored a year late amid COVID pandemic
The Astros on Saturday inducted six members into the club’s Hall of Fame — Lance Berkman, César Cedeño, Roy Hofheinz, Roy Oswalt, Billy Wagner and Bob Watson — as the 2020 class in a long-awaited ceremony postponed by the pandemic.
Donning bright orange blazers, the new inductees were honored on the field at Minute Maid Park before the Astros-Twins game. The late Hofheinz and Watson were represented by family members, as was Berkman.
Berkman, who’s now the head coach at Houston Baptist, was a five-time AllStar in 12 seasons with Houston from 1999 to 2010. The switch-hitter is the Astros’ all-time leader in career on-base percentage (.410) slugging percentage (.549) and OPS (.959), and ranks second in homers (326) and third in RBIs (1,090). As a safety precaution, he left the park before Saturday’s ceremony began after a member of his family tested positive for COVID-19.
Cedeño, an outfielder with the Astros from 1970 to 1981, won five consecutive Gold Gloves from 1972 to 1976 while being named to four National League All-Star teams in that span. Although injuries toward the end of his tenure in Houston — a torn ACL in 1977 and a broken right ankle in the 1980 playoffs — led to a dropoff in the last years of his career after he left the Astros, he finished his major league career with a .285 batting average, 199 homers, 436 doubles, 60 triples and 550 stolen bases.
“César Cedeño is one of the best of my generation,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “Had he not gotten hurt, I think he certainly could have been in the Hall of Fame.”
Told of Baker’s comments, Cedeño grinned and said, “I’m just glad people still remember the little cocky young fellow that played center field for the Houston Astros.”
As Cedeño spoke, two of the players he once coached in minor league ball, Oswalt and Wagner, looked on.
Oswalt debuted as a rookie in 2001 and was the Astros’ first ace to pitch at Minute Maid Park. He went on to win 143 games with a 3.24 ERA in 303 games (291 starts) over 10 seasons with the Astros, which included three AllStar selections.
Oswalt fondly recalled the 2004 and 2005 playoffs when he pitched Houston to wins in two series-clinching games, including the win in Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS at St. Louis that gave the Astros their first World Series appearance. Oswalt said he still has the tractor that former Astros owner Drayton McClane Jr. famously bought him for winning that game.
“I’ve had a lot of people try and buy it from me, but I don’t think I’ll ever sell it,” Oswalt said.
Wagner spent 19952003 with the Astros, where he began to craft a reputation as one of MLB’s best and most consistent closers. He set an Astros single-season franchise record for saves in 1999 (39 saves), before topping his own club mark in 2003 with 44.
“As a team it was fun to come out and know we were gonna win every day and I was gonna have a chance to play and special things could happen,” he said. “We just had an organization that allowed everybody to be successful.”
Watson was named the Astros’ first African American GM in 1994 after a 14year playing stint with the club from 1966 to 1979. Two months before he died in May 2020, the Astros honored Watson with the opening of the Bob Watson Education Center at the Astros Youth Academy in North Houston.
Watson’s wife, Carol, and son Keith attended the induction ceremony in his place.
“The first time when he came in as the general manager, we were walking across the Astrodome parking lot and it’s all dark and all the media had left,” Carol remembered. “He said, ‘You know what? I have the keys to every door to the eighth wonder of the world.’”
Watson played for the Astros while Judge Roy Hofheinz was the first owner of the Houston franchise. Hofheinz was instrumental in getting the Colt .45s to Houston in 1962. In 1965 he renamed the club the Astros to coincide with the opening of the Astrodome, which had a lasting influence on stadium design.
Hofheinz’s daughter Dene attended Saturday’s ceremony.
“This would mean a great deal to him,” she said. “Just so grateful he’s being received like this and is forever in the Hall of Fame, in a place he loved, in a sport he loved, with people he loved.”
The six newest inductees join the 16 members of the 2019 inaugural class: Bob Aspromonte, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Jose Cruz, Larry Dierker, Gene Elston, Milo Hamilton, Joe Morgan, Joe Niekro, Shane Reynolds, J.R. Richard, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Jim Umbricht, Don Wilson and Jimmy Wynn.