"Pam Gardner resigned Thursday as the Astros' president for business operations, capping a two-decade era during which she helped orchestrate the team's move to downtown Houston and became one of the longest-tenured female executives in Major League Baseball.

Gardner, who joined the team in 1989 as director of communications and was named one of its two presidents in August 2001, is the latest executive to depart in the wake of the club's sale in November by Drayton McLane to shipping logistics executive Jim Crane. "