Longtime Astros employee Berry receives ring

Crane talks World Series rings HOUSTON -- A lifetime of memories and hard work were slipped onto the finger of 70-year-old Willie Berry on Thursday afternoon.

Berry, who's worked with the Astros since the early 1970s -- first as a janitor at the Astrodome but mostly as a dependable groundskeeper at the Astrodome and Minute Maid Park -- was among hundreds of Astros employees who received their World Series championship rings at a ceremony at Minute Maid Park.

The club awarded 1,332 rings -- the players and field staff got theirs on Tuesday -- and even paid the taxes for employees so there would be no out-of-pocket cost. But no one who received a ring Thursday has worked for the club longer…