# Skip Lockwood

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**Claude Edward (Skip) Lockwood Jr.** (born August 17, 1946) is an American former [Major League Baseball](/source/Major_League_Baseball) [pitcher](/source/Pitcher). He pitched for the [Seattle Pilots](/source/Seattle_Pilots) / [Milwaukee Brewers](/source/Milwaukee_Brewers) (1969–1973), [California Angels](/source/California_Angels) (1974), [New York Mets](/source/New_York_Mets) (1975–1979) and [Boston Red Sox](/source/Boston_Red_Sox) (1980).

Lockwood was the last of the original Seattle Pilots to play for the Brewers, being traded to the California Angels prior to the 1974 season.

## Baseball career

### Third base

Lockwood attended [Catholic Memorial High School](/source/Catholic_Memorial_School_(Boston)) in [West Roxbury, Massachusetts](/source/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](/source/Third_baseman) when he signed with the [Kansas City Athletics](/source/Kansas_City_Athletics) out of high school in 1964 as an amateur free agent. The scout representing the Athletics came to the Lockwood home with a $35,000 contract. Lockwood said that he needed to make one change before signing, and added a "1" in front of the contract amount, changing the number to $135,000. The scout was nervous and asked to use the Lockwood's phone to call Athletics' owner [Charlie Finley](/source/Charlie_Finley). Finley spoke to Lockwood directly, asking why he should give Lockwood the money. "Because I'll make you a winner," said Lockwood. The scout went back on the phone, and Finley approved the higher amount.[1]

Despite [batting](/source/Batting_average_(baseball)) only .208 with the [Burlington Bees](/source/Burlington_Bees), he showed decent power with five [home runs](/source/Home_run) in 236 at bats, and was brought up to the [majors](/source/Major_League_Baseball) for the season.[2] With the A's, he batted only .121 with eleven [strikeouts](/source/Strikeout) in 33 at bats, and was back in the [minor leagues](/source/Minor_leagues) the next two seasons.[3] Lockwood could hit fastballs, but struggled with [breaking balls](/source/Breaking_balls).[1]

### Pitcher

On November 28, , Lockwood was drafted by the [Houston Astros](/source/Houston_Astros) in the [1967](/source/1967_Houston_Astros_season) [Rule 5 draft](/source/Rule_5_draft), but, following [spring training](/source/Spring_training), he was returned to his original club, which had moved to [Oakland](/source/Oakland).[citation needed] Upon his return to the Athletics organization, Lockwood was converted to a [pitcher](/source/Pitcher) despite having only pitched one [inning](/source/Inning), with the [Modesto Reds](/source/Modesto_Reds) in .[2] On October 15, , he was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the [1968 expansion draft](/source/1968_Major_League_Baseball_expansion_draft).[4] During [their first and only season](/source/1969_Seattle_Pilots_season), Lockwood made his major league debut on the [mound](/source/Pitcher's_mound) with the Pilots, going 0–1 with a 3.52 [earned run average](/source/Earned_run_average) in six games (three starts).[3]

Lockwood spent the next four years with the franchise following their move to [Milwaukee](/source/Milwaukee), and spent most of his time with the Brewers as a [starting pitcher](/source/Starting_pitcher). In his final season in Milwaukee, [1973](/source/1973_Milwaukee_Brewers_season), he made 22 of his 37 appearances out of the [bullpen](/source/Bullpen).[3] Up to that point, he had only made seven appearances in [relief](/source/Relief_Pitcher).

### Relief pitcher

Lockwood was involved in a nine-player transaction when he was sent along with [Ellie Rodríguez](/source/Ellie_Rodr%C3%ADguez), [Ollie Brown](/source/Ollie_Brown_(baseball)), [Joe Lahoud](/source/Joe_Lahoud) and [Gary Ryerson](/source/Gary_Ryerson) from the Brewers to the Angels for [Steve Barber](/source/Steve_Barber), [Clyde Wright](/source/Clyde_Wright), [Ken Berry](/source/Ken_Berry_(baseball)), [Art Kusnyer](/source/Art_Kusnyer) and cash on October 23, 1973.[5] He was used almost exclusively as a reliever by the Angels (35 relief appearances, two starts). With the Angels, he earned his first [save](/source/Save_(baseball)). After a 2–5 [season](/source/1974_California_Angels_season), he was dealt from the Angels to the [New York Yankees](/source/New_York_Yankees) for [Bill Sudakis](/source/Bill_Sudakis) at the [Winter Meetings](/source/Winter_Meetings) on December 3, 1974.[6]

In 1975, Lockwood joined the New York Mets, with whom he blossomed as a reliever. In and , Lockwood earned 19 and 20 saves, respectively, and established a Mets season record for games pitched in 1977 with 63.[3] According to the Mets blog, *Amazin' Avenue*, Lockwood was in 2007 the forty-second best player in Mets history.[7] Unfortunately, Lockwood played for the Mets during one of the darker times in franchise history (98, 96 and 99 losses in 1977, and , respectively).

He signed with the Boston Red Sox for the 1980 season, going 3–1 with two saves and a 5.32 ERA in 24 games (one start).[3] The following Spring, he was released by the Red Sox, and retired shortly afterwards. In twelve seasons, Lockwood's career stats are:

W L PCT ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER R HR BB IBB K WP HBP Bk BF Fld% Avg 57 97 .370 3.55 420 106 219 16 5 68 1236 1130 488 539 98 490 62 829 43 33 5 5215 .951 .154

## Outside baseball

Lockwood attended several universities in the months between his MLB seasons, including [Merrimack College](/source/Merrimack_College), [Boston College](/source/Boston_College), [Bryant and Stratton Commercial School](/source/Bryant_%26_Stratton_College), [Marquette University](/source/Marquette_University), and [Carroll College](/source/Carroll_College). He finally graduated with a *[cum laude](/source/Cum_laude)* bachelor's degree from [Emerson College](/source/Emerson_College) in 1976, his eighth year in the majors.[8] He has two master's degrees, one from Fairfield, and the other from MIT.[1] He graduated from the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology) with a S.M. in . He is one of the few MIT graduates who have played in Major League Baseball.[9] Lockwood was also an accomplished candlepin bowler.

In 2018, Lockwood released a memoir titled *Insight Pitch*, which he wrote without using a ghostwriter.[1]

## References

1. Lockwood, Skip (2018-03-06). [*Insight Pitch: My Life as a Major League Closer*](https://books.google.com/books?id=w5IsDwAAQBAJ). Sports. ISBN 9781683581765.

1. ["Skip Lockwood Winter & Minor Leagues Statistics"](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=lockwo001cla). *[Baseball-Reference.com](/source/Baseball-Reference.com)*. Retrieved February 26, 2023.

1. ["Skip Lockwood Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More"](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lockwsk01.shtml). *[Baseball-Reference.com](/source/Baseball-Reference.com)*. Retrieved February 26, 2023.

1. ["1968 MLB Expansion Drafts"](https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/1968-expansion-draft.shtml). *[Baseball-Reference.com](/source/Baseball-Reference.com)*. Retrieved February 26, 2023.

1. Fletcher, Walter R. (October 24, 1973). ["People in Sports: Cubs' Jenkins in Texas Livery?"](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/24/archives/people-in-sports-cubs-jenkins-in-texas-livery-british-soccer-natl.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved November 28, 2020.

1. Durso, Joseph (December 4, 1974). ["Big Deals: McGraw to Phils, Allen to Braves, Lee May to Orioles"](https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/04/archives/big-deals-mcgraw-to-phils-allen-to-braves-lee-may-to-orioles-mcgraw.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved October 31, 2020.

1. Simon (January 23, 2007). ["The Top 50 Mets of All Time: #42 Skip Lockwood"](http://www.amazinavenue.com/story/2007/1/23/01955/0193). *Amazin' Avenue*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20071225112556/http://www.amazinavenue.com/story/2007/1/23/01955/0193) December 25, 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 7, 2008.

1. Nowlin, Bill. ["Skip Lockwood"](https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/skip-lockwood/). *[Society for American Baseball Research](/source/Society_for_American_Baseball_Research)*. Retrieved August 10, 2022.

1. Waugh, Alice C. (April 6, 2004). ["MIT alum makes it to 'the show'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20040617014832/http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/baseball.html). *[MIT News](/source/MIT_News)*. Archived from [the original](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/baseball.html) on June 17, 2004. Retrieved May 6, 2009.

## External links

- ["Interview with Skip Lockwood Major League Baseball Player, Author, and MIT Graduate"](https://www.famebooking.com/blog/interview-with-skip-lockwood-major-league-baseball-player-author-and-mit-graduate) Fame Booking July 11th, 2019

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Skip Lockwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Lockwood) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Lockwood?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.