Skip Lockwood: Mid to Late Seventies Mets Closer (1975 - 1979)

Claude Edward Lockwood Jr. was born August 17, 1946, in Roslindale, Massachusetts located just outside the Boston area. He has one younger sister.

His mother Florence (Gorman) was a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette & had once taught ballet. His father, Claude would be a big coaching influence on Skip's baseball career.

As a child his arm went thru a window & was almost cutoff by the pane. His father brought home a ball & glove for them to have a catch with, to build his arm strength back up.

The six-foot one right hander was originally a third baseman signed out of West Roxbury high school, where he earned 14 letters. Since 1964, Lockwood’s 14-yard dash school record still stands.

In 1964 he signed as a bonus baby with the Kansas City Athletics. 

At the time of the signing, he was presented with a contract for $35,000. He took the pen & added a one in front of the numbers& it was accepted for $135,000. According to Lockwood, it was the largest bonus up to that point in time. He also got away without the team knowing he wore contact lenses & glasses. He was brought up to the major leagues the next season, but as an infielder. 

MLB Career: Because of the Bonus Baby rules of the day, he sat on the bench all season as future Met Ed Charles played third base. In 33 at bats, he struck out eleven times batting .121. He was also used as a pinch runner.

In 1967 Lockwood was drafted away by the Houston Astros where they wanted him to pitch full time & they began his transition. But then got sent back to the Athletics organization, where he was pitched in the minors. In 1968 he was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. He made six appearances as a Pilot, in the team's only season before relocating.

MLB Career: Skip came up to the team at the end of August taking a loss to the Chicago White Sox in his first outing. In six games he was 0-1 on the year with a .352 ERA. 

In 1970 the Pilots franchise moved to Milwaukee, there Lockwood began his career as a starting pitcher. 

Brewers Career: Lockwood would spend four seasons in Milwaukee (1970-1973) pitching mostly as a starter until his last season there. In four seasons in Milwaukee, he posted losing records every year with twelve or more losses in each season. 

In 1970 he had a rough year losing ten of his first 11 decisions. But he closed out the year going 4-2 with a 2.63 ERS in his last seven starts. 

Lockwood finished the year going 5-12 with a 4.30 ERA, allowing 23 HRs in 173 innings pitched for Dave Bristol's fourth place Brewers who went 65-97-1. On May 10th he hit his first career HR in a 7-6 win over the Washington Senators.

In 1971 Skip had his best season as a starter, going 10-15 (10th most losses in the league) with a 3.60 ERA. He had career highs in strike outs (115) & innings (208). He credits manager Dave Bristol & pitching coach Wes Stock in helping him. On August 11th, he hit his second career HR, the only run in a 2-1 loss to Detroit.

MLB Player Rep: In 1972 he was the Brewers union player representative, as MLB had a work stoppage before the start of the season. His wife worked as a substitute teacher & he took an off-season job as an insurance salesman to make ends meet. He was also involved in the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

When play resumed, had another up & down year, as he stated he had trouble with his concentration. He went 8-15 making 27 starts in 29 appearances, with a 3.60 ERA. He threw a career high three shut outs, as the Brewers finished fifth.

In 1973, he was 4-10 as a starting pitcher & was used more often as a reliever. In 22 relief appearances he was 1-2 finishing up 12 games. Overall Lockwood was 5-12 with a 3.90 ERA, pitching in 154 innings. 

On October 22, 1973, Lockwood was traded along with Ellie Rodriguez, Ollie Brown & Joe Lahoud, to the California Angels for Ken Berry, Clyde Wright, Steve Barber, & Art Kusnyer.

Angels Career: In his first season in California, he was converted to a full-time relief pitcher at a time when the spot was becoming more prominent in the game.  The last place Angles had nine different pitchers who recorded saves that year & Lockwood earned one himself. On the year he was 2-5 with a save, four blown saves, one hold & a 4.32 ERA in 37 appearances.

That off season he was sent to the A.L. New York team for Bill Sudakis. Just before the 1975 season began, he was released. Lockwood then signed with the Oakland A’s but was released once again.

Mets Career: At the end of July 1975, he had his contract purchased by the New York Mets. He began at AAA Tidewater pitching in three games. An injury to Mets reliever Ken Sanders opened a spot for Lockwood to be brought up. At the same time Mets manager Yogi Berra was fired. 

On August 5th Lockwood made his Mets debut pitching in both ends of a doubleheader loss to the Montreal Expos. 

On August 11th at Shea Stadium, Lockwood earned his first Mets win, pitching five shutout innings over the San Diego Padres at Shea Stadium. On August 23rd in San Francisco, he relieved Jerry Koosman in the bottom of the 9th inning, with a 1-0 lead over the Giants & a runner on third base. He gave up a double to Willie Montanez & then loaded the bases. He then walked Mike Sadek bringing in the winning run, taking the loss.

On September 15th, he earned his first Mets save against the Montreal Expos at Shea Stadium. On September 19th he gave up a HR to the Phillies Dick Allen to take his second loss. On September 24th in Chicago, Lockwood gave up another bases loaded walk to lose a game, walking Bill Madlock in the bottom of the 11th at Wrigley Field. 

Lockwood was used in 24 games going 1-3 with two saves, posting an impressive 1.49 ERA. He struck out 61 batters & walked 25 in 48.1 innings of work.

Bicentennial Year: In 1976 Lockwood turned out to be a pleasant surprise out of the Mets pen, taking over the wide-open closer role, which was still being referred to as a Fireman in those days. 

Since the departure of Tug McGraw in 1974, Bob Apodaca had taken over in that role but got injured & was never that effective. Pitcher Rick Baldwin who was also considered for the role, never developed like the Mets had hoped, and Lockwood soon became the guy.

On Opening Day, he saved a 3-2 for Tom Seaver in Montreal. 

From April 15th to May 27th, Lockwood went 2-0 with six saves giving up three earned runs in 20.1 innings. Batters hit just .116 against him in those 11 games.

On May 29th he recorded his first blown save & then took another loss the next day. That loss came in the 11th inning, on a pop-up sac fly from St. Louis' Don Kessinger. 

From June 13th to July 17th, Lockwood went 41 with two saves, posting a 1.29 ERA as batters hit just .159 against him in those 13 games.

On July 4th, he threw three scoreless innings against the Cubs at Shea to earn a save. On July 27th he threw another three scoreless innings at Philadelphia notching his tenth save.

On August 1st, the Phillies Gary Maddox singled in the top of the 11th inning to beat Lockwood & the Mets 7-6. He suffered another loss the next day, allowing a three run HR to Montreal's Jose Morales. 

But from August 5th to October 3rd, he was 4-0 with nine more saves, blowing one opportunity. Batters hit just .171 against him as he struck out 38 batters in 31 innings.

On August 19th, the lone blown save came when the Dodgers' Steve Garvey & Ron Cey got him for back-to-back HRs at Dodger Stadium.

In the bicentennial year the Mets finished in third place at 86-76. Lockwood became one of the league’s best relievers, posting 19 saves (2nd best in the N.L.) winning ten games to match a career high (10-7). He struck out 108 batters with 34 walks in 94 innings with a 2.67 ERA. Opposing batters hit just .186 against him.

The Mets rewarded him with a three-year contract.

1977:   At this point was established as the team's leading fireman. In the first two months, Lockwood saved four games. On April 15th he had his worst outing of the year, giving up five runs to the Cubs, blowing a save taking a loss. On May 27th & May 28th he took back-to-back losses at Philadelphia. 

From June 1st to June 25th, Lockwood saved six games, collected a win & a hold over ten games. On June 15th things got really bad in New York as the Mets traded away Tom Seaver. Lockwood had become close friends with Seaver & manager Joe Torre felt it affected his pitching.

Quotes- Skip Lockwood about Tom Seaver: It's hard to capture what Tom Seaver meant to me. He was the poster boy for baseball in New York. His preparation for the game was very different than anybody else I had ever met; he was so intense & so thorough. He had a book on hitters as to how to get them out. I didn't even have a book. He was the guy I tried to model myself after & I was a veteran player at the time."

As the team tried to move on, they fell to last place. In July Skip saved five more games. But on the West Coast Road trip, he took two losses in a three-game series at San Diego. First on July 21st, Lockwood gave up a walk off base hit to George Hendrick scoring Billy Almon. The next day he walked Gene Richards in the bottom of the 7th inning of a 3-3 tied game. Richards then stole second & third base, scoring on Billy Almon's ground out, giving him another loss.

There weren't too many more save opportunities for saves that season, Lockwood earned just three saves in all of August & September. 

Franchise Record for Appearances: On the season Lockwood set a club record at the time for appearances with 67. He saved 20 games (5th best in the NL) while finishing off a career best 50 games (5th most in the NL).

He posted a 3.38 ERA striking out 84 batters with 31 walks in 104 innings, posting a 4-8 record on a poor Mets ball club. 

Mets Union Rep.: Lockwood became the Mets Union Player Representative by mid 1977, after Tom Seaver who formerly held the position, was traded away. Lockwood spoke out on free agency saying that if salaries are made public, certain other players might question if another player is worth more to a team than they are.

1978: Lockwood started out the year, saving five games in the month of April, In May he blew wins in Atlanta & Cincnnati on an early road trip. 

Three Walk Off Victories: From May 18th to May 21st, he was the winning pitcher in three games where the Mets had walk off hits. He gave up two runs pitching seven innings in those three games. On May 18th he benefited from a walk off hit from Steve Henderson to beat the Braves. On the May 19th, Willie Montanez hit a walk off single helping Skip to the win over the Phillies. Then on May 21st, Henderson hit a walk off double off the Phillies Tug McGraw for that win.

In June he won three straight games without giving up a run to get to 7-4. On June 16 in San Francisco, Lockwood gave up a walk off three run HR to the Giants Jack Clark. From June 29th to July 1st, he took three straight losses, blowing a save in Chicago, then taking two losses in Pittsburgh.

In July & August he didn't win a game, going 0-6 but did save seven games. He gave up 12 earned runs in 31.1 innings, with four HRs. 

Hitting a HR: On July 17th, Lockwood hit a 9th inning HR off the Braves Dave Campbell in a 9-7 win at Fulton County Stadium. It was his first Mets HR & the third of his career. Lockwood now had driven in at least one run in his four years with the Mets.

In early September he went down for the res of the season with a shoulder injury that had been ailing him all along.

On the season he saved 15 games (8th in the NL) for another poor Mets team that won just 66 games (66-96). Lockwood posted a 3.57 ERA with 73 strike outs & 31 walks. 

He also tied for the league lead with 13 relief losses going 7-13. That year Lockwood gave up more HRs than usual, allowing ten in 90 innings pitched.

1979: Lockwood began the year well, although his 0-5 record in mid-May did not show it. Before he had his first win, he had collected six saves & posted a 1.76 ERA. In 22 appearances he had only given up an earned run in six games.

On May 26th, he pitched two scoreless innings over the Pirates at Shea, striking out four batters to earn his first win of the year. Two days later his shoulder acted up again & he tried to return a few days later. The following week he would win his second game of the season, in a 5-4 win in Atlanta.

But by June 6th, he suffered a torn muscle in his shoulder and was done for the rest of the season.

He finished up 1979 with nine saves, going 2-5 with a 1.49 ERA, striking out 42 batters in 42.1 innings making 27 appearances. 

In the off-season Lockwood was fed up with the Mets organization as most players & fans were. He looked forward to free agency, but some teams were worried about his shoulder injuries. He was signed by the Boston Red Sox.

Mets Career Stats: In five seasons with the Mets, he had saved 65 games, putting him at eleventh on the Mets All Time list. He made 227 appearances (22nd on the all-time Mets list). From 1976 -1979 Lockwood led the club in both saves & appearances. He struck out 368 batters with 135 walks in 379.2 innings pitched.

Post Mets Career: At first, he felt going to Boston was going back home. At the time he was living in Greenwich Connecticut just a few hours away. With the Red Sox his shoulder was never the same after his inures. Lockwood had problems with manager Dom Zimmer right away. While still recovering from injury Zimmer wanted him to warm up on a cold day in a 15-1 trouncing from the Brewers. Lockwood told his manager he didn't think it was a good idea. Zimmer saw it as a challenge to his authority & told him not to expect to see any action in close games. 

To add to his shoulder problems, he also suffered from neck problems he felt was caused by squinting when not using his glasses. 

In 24 games that year he was 3-1 with two saves, posting a 5.32 ERA. Lockwood was humiliated at being called upon so little. The Sox finished fifth & Zimmer was fired. In April 1981 Lockwood was released. He signed a minor league deal with the Expos but was not successful. When the players went on strike that year, his career was over.

Career Stats: In a twelve-season career Lockwood was 57-97 with 68 saves, pitching in 420 Games with 106 Starts, 16 Complete Games, five Shutouts, 68 Saves, 219 games finished (233rd all time) 829 Strikeouts 490 walks & a 3.55 ERA over 1236 innings.

Education: During his baseball career, Lockwood earned a college degree at Emerson College. After baseball the always intelligent Lockwood, went to MIT and earned a master's degree. 

He also partnered with Chestnut Hill Medical Center in Boston working 16 years in sports psychology.

Trivia: Skip is also an accomplished candlepin bowler. Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played in several New England states, as well as Canada.

Family: Skip & his wife Kathleen have five children. 

In 2010 his wife Kathleen released a highly acclaimed book called Major League Bride. It focuses on the struggles of a baseball player’s wife in the world of Major League baseball. 

Quotes- Nancy Seaver: “Thank you Kathy for taking the time to document the life of a baseball wife with dignity, humor and fondness.”

Skip Lockwood's Book: In 2018 he authored a book "Insight Pitch- My Life as an MLB Closer". 

Quotes- Skip Lockwood on his book:  I wanted to write a different book, not your standard baseball memoir. 

The book is more about visualization & preparation. What I would like the reader to take away is that as a metaphor for other things that you do in your like, this nook can be the steppingstone to how you think about those things.".