1976 Topps #166 - Skip Lockwood

• Skip Lockwood started out as a 3B for the Kansas City A's in 1965, then was a pitcher for several teams from 1969-1980. He graduated from MIT in 1983 (one of only three major league baseball players to have done s0).

• Lockwood received a $100,000 bonus to sign with the A's in 1964. After playing in the minors in '64 he was brought to the A's in 1965 and batted .121 in 33 at bats. Skip went back to the minors and struggled for a few years. In 1968 it was decided that he would be converted to a pitcher. Skip pitched a few games in the minors in '68 and then was taken by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. He pitched well for AA Elmira in 1969 and was brought up to Seattle in late August. Lockwood pitched in six games (three starts) and was 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA.

• Skip spent the first month of the 1970 season at AAA Portland, where he started five games and went 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA. The Milwaukee Brewers brought him up in early May. Lockwood was 5-12 with a 4.30 ERA in 26 starts. In 1971 Skip was 10-15 with a 3.33 ERA. He then had seasons of 8-15 and 5-12.

• After the 1973 season Lockwood was traded to the California Angels in a multi-player trade that didn't do a whole lot for either team. Skip was moved to the bullpen and went 2-5 with one save and a 4.32 ERA in 37 appearances for the Angels in 1974.

• After the 1974 season Lockwood was traded to the New York Yankees for Bill Sudakis. He never pitched for the Yankees (he was released on April 7) and he signed as a free agent with the Oakland A's. The A's assigned Lockwood to AAA Tucson, where he spent most of the 1975 season. He was sold to the New York Mets on July 28 and spent a week with AAA Tidewater. Skip got back to the majors on August 5 and went 1-3 with an ERA of 1.49 in 24 appearances during the last two months of the 1975 season.

• The Mets made Lockwood their main guy out of the bullpen. The 1976 season was probably Skip's best season---he was 10-7 with a 2.67 ERA and had 19 saves in 56 appearances. His 1977 season was almost as good (4-8, 3.38 ERA, 20 saves in 63 games). In 1978 Skip dropped off (7-13, 3.57 ERA, 15 saves in 57 games).

• Lockwood had a pretty good start to his 1979 season. He was 2-5 with a 1.49 ERA and had nine saves. He went on the DL in June with tissue tears in his shoulder. It was a bad year to get hurt, as it was his free agent year. After the season Skip signed with the Boston Red Sox. He was 3-1 with two saves and a 5.32 ERA in 24 games with the Red Sox in 1980. Lockwood was released during spring training in 1981. He signed with the Montreal Expos and pitched for AAA Denver in 1981 but was ineffective and retired after the season.

• Skip is currently the CEO of a company called PACE 360, a company involved in sales and marketing (thanks to MMayes at the 1972 baseball blog for the info).

In June 1979 Skip went on the DL with tissue tears in his shoulder. His comeback attempt with the Boston Red Sox in 1980 failed and he retired from baseball.