Skip Lockwood

Claude Edward (Skip) Lockwood Jr. (born August 17, 1946 in Roslindale, Massachusetts) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Seattle Pilots (1969), Milwaukee Brewers (1970–1973), California Angels (1974), New York Mets (1975–1979) and Boston Red Sox (1980).

Third base

Lockwood attended Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he earned 14 varsity letters in four years. His school record time in the 100-yard dash in 1964 still stands. Lockwood was a third baseman when he signed with the Kansas City Athletics out of high school in 1964 as an amateur free agent.

Despite batting only .208 with the Burlington Bees, he showed decent power with five home runs in 236 at bats, and was brought up to the majors for the 1965 season. With the A's, he batted only .121 with eleven strikeouts in 33 at bats, and was back in the minor leagues the next two seasons.

Pitcher

On November 28, 1967, Lockwood was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1967 Rule 5 draft, but, following spring training, he was returned to his original club, which had moved to Oakland. Upon his return to the Athletics organization, Lockwood was converted to a pitcher despite having only pitched one inning with the Modesto Reds in 1966. On October 15, 1968, he was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the 1968 expansion draft. During their first and only season, he made his major league debut on the mound with the Pilots, going 0-1 with a 3.52 earned run average in six games.

Lockwood spent the next four years with the franchise following their move to Milwaukee, and spent most of his time with the Brewers as a starting pitcher. In his final season in Milwaukee, 1973, he made 22 of his 37 appearances out of the bullpen. Up to that point, he'd only made seven appearances in relief.

Relief pitcher

Following an off season trade, Lockwood was used almost exclusively as a reliever by the California Angels (35 relief appearances, two starts). With the Angels, he earned his first save.

In 1975, Lockwood joined the New York Mets. It was in New York that Lockwood truly blossomed as a reliever. In 1976 and 1977, Lockwood earned 19 and 20 saves, respectively, and established a Mets season record for Games in 1977 with 63. According to the Mets blog, Amazin' Avenue, Lockwood is the forty-second best player in Mets history.^[1] Unfortunately Lockwood played for the Mets during one of the darker times in franchise history (98 losses in 1977, 96 in 1978 & 99 in 1979).

He signed with the Boston Red Sox for the 1980 season, going 3-1 and making one start. The following Spring, he was released by the Red Sox, and retired shortly afterwards. In twelve seasons, Lockwood's career stats are:

Earning a degree

Lockwood graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a S.M. in 1983. He is one of the few MIT graduates who have played Major League Baseball.^[2] Lockwood was also an accomplished candlepin bowler.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube