3/29/18

Gary McDonald - Interview with Skip Lockwood



I recently interviewed former NY Mets closer Skip Lockwood,on my podcast MetsMusings Skip, has a new book out and was happy to discuss it with me.  Here is an excerpt of that interview. 


MM: My guest tonight he is a former relief pitcher
for the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers, he
even played for the Seattle Pilots and
his name is Skip Lockwood and he's got a
brand new book out called" Insight Pitch:
My Life as a Major League Closer" and
He's here tonight.Skip thanks so much
for coming on Mets Musings.


Skip Lockwood: Great  to be back
this close to New York again.
I remember New York very very kindly
We had wonderful years there , we had a house in
Greenwich and Tom Seaver was my ride to
the ball park. we had friends, we
just had a blast, I enjoyed  playing at Shea
Stadium. I pitched okay and I got a
chance to pitch in important games.

I just love New York and I'm in many
many cases I I wished I had still stuck
around I miss it.  I miss New York, I miss the people, Broadway.

MM:You had a short but a very
nice career here in New York and not a
bad ride to the ballpark coming in with
Tom Seaver.

Lockwood: Now Gary, you know Tom was
very instrumental.  I think a lot of
players that played with Tom will tell
you the same he was a guy that you know
got up on your grill, yeah and he was
a guy that could teach, he was a guy
who was thinking very
clearly about the psychological
components of the game I think he was
way ahead of his time in preparation
physically and emotionally mentally for
every game. He really left no stone
unturned, you know he went to the to the
ballpark every single day with purpose
in mind. Everything he did seemed like it
was designed to help him pitch better, to
help them think about pitching better,
he was really a mentor for me, and very
inspirational in many many different ways I
 enjoyed being around him. All I had to do
is listen, sometimes he was confrontational sometimes with me he was
a guy that  was a clear leader for me and a guy that I thought influenced my career an awful lot.

MM:Now in your book you
speak about how you prepared for a game
and you did a lot of a
mental imaging can you speak a little bit about
that and how you got into that?

Lockwood:Yes, the book is an attempt to be authentic. What
I tried to do is write the book, and I
wrote every word of the book myself, I
try to speak as if I was taking you with
me out on the mound, you and I are
throwing the pitch, you're inside the
uniform you're gripping the ball, you're feeling what it's like to be out there. I try to be honest and I try to
you know do with a sense of humility but
I wanted people to, just like you would
ask somebody if you're at a bar.
So the book was an attempt to
take you with me on my journey. Part of
my journey was good and part of it
was great that the part that was good
was in Milwaukee and in California
that's okay.

I was a starting pitcher for the Brewers and had
some pretty good games but I never I
never really turned it into something
that I could count on something that was
repeatable. I really didn't know why I
was pitching well and then I started to
uncover ways to relax and visualize what
was going to happen on the on the mound
and use that visualization as a tool
very specific very detailed I was very
much in tune with how the movie was
going to play.

I saw me pitching and I would watch the movie,
me pitching before I would ever go out
and pitch the game it was something that
I prepared every day.
I prepared every pitch it was I saw Tom
do it and I saw how he did it and I
tried to learn from him I tried to learn
his techniques.


If you wish to hear the entire interview go to metsmusings.com episode #317.

3 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Nice, Gary.

He certainly had a great "mentor" in Seaver. I wish Seaver was still around to ride in from Greenwich with Zach Wheeler. What would a Seaver brain do today with Wheeler's physical tools?

Mack Ade said...

Very nice interview

bill metsiac said...

Nothing helped Wheeler when he was here years ago, before he changed his name from Pelfrey. At least he doesn't lick his fingers anymore. 😕