Roy Oswalt made an instant splash as a rookie in 2001.  That year he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, was fifth in Cy Young voting, and his 14-3 record and sub 3.00 ERA was a real head-turner. In the year that followed he won 19 Games and was fourth in the Cy Young tally.  It was all a precursor of what would come

From 2004 to 2007, Roy Oswalt was regarded as one of the elite pitchers in Baseball.  Over that time, he was an All-Star each year and has a Wins Title, a bWAR for Pitchers title, and won the 2005 NLCS MVP award though the Astros were unable to win the World Series that year.  Oswalt may have never won the Cy Young, but he finished in the top five in voting six times, a very impressive accomplishment for the man who was the best pitcher in Houston Astros history.

Oswalt played with the Astros until 2010 when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.  He won 143 Games in an Astros uniform and was inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame in 2020.

A great hitter who hit .300 or above for the Astros six times, Jose Cruz finished in the top ten in MVP voting three times.  Cruz, a two-time All-Star, would lead the NL in Hits in 1983 and was close to the 2,000 Hit mark with the Astros.  Cruz would also exceed the 30 Stolen Base mark five times.

From the Dominican Republic, Cesar Cedeno was signed as an Amateur Free Agent in 1967, and he made the Astros roster in 1970, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting. He built on that, leading the NL in Doubles, which he did again in 1972, but that was a special year.

That season, Cesar Cedeno would become the second player in MLB history to hit 20 Home Runs and accumulate 50 Stolen Bases in a season, a feat he would duplicate in the next two years.  The flashy Dominican was known for his aggressive defense and on the base paths, which resulted in four Gold Gloves and six consecutive seasons swiping 50 bases.  The four-time All-Star finished in the top five in Offensive bWAR on four occasions.

Cedeno was shipped to Cincinnati in 1982, and he left the Astros with 1,659 Hits, 163 Home Runs, and 487 Stolen Bases.  In 2020, the Astros inducted Cedeno into their Hall of Fame.

The third member of the famed Houston Astros “Killer B’s”, Lance Berkman had a decade of success in the state of Texas where he would finish five times in the Top Ten in National League Most Valuable Player voting. 

Berkman debuted in 1999, and he went to his first All-Star Game in 2001, where he was entrenched as Houston’s third star behind Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.  He had five 30 plus Home Run Seasons, and another five where he had over 100 RBIs as an Astro.  He hit for average, with four years going over .300, and had a Slash Line of .296/.410/.549 with the team.

His time with Houston ended when the fading Astros dealt him to the New Year Yankees, and he signed that off-season with the St. Louis Cardinals, and would win the World Series there in 2011.

Berkman would sign a one-day contract in 2013, so that he could retire as an Astro.  With Houston, he collected 1,648 Hits, with 326 Home Runs, and 1,090 RBIs.  The team inducted Berkman into their Hall of Fame in 2020.