Reese Kaplan -- Forgotten Setup Guys Part 3 of 6

Sometimes you just pitch for rotten teams and your career stats take a hit as a result.  The New York Mets had picked up a journeyman reliever from the Oakland A’s in a cash deal.  Usually players sold (Babe Ruth being the exception) are not the stars of the game, but a team simply needing a roster spot or an infusion of cash. 

Skip Lockwood had started out as an infielder when he signed with the then Kansas City Athletics in 1964.  The scout who brought the contract offered him $35,000.  Lockwood liked that he was going to have a chance to play in the majors but felt he was being greatly underappreciated and said he had a single change to make to the contract, adding a handwritten number 1 in front of the amount, now having it read $135,00.  The scout got Charles Finley on the phone and Lockwood simply told him he was worth it and would help win games for the franchise.  Finley approved, but much to everyone’s chagrin, his initial foray into professional ball was not good.  He showed some promise of hitting for power and it earned him a trip to the majors just a year later but in 1965 he batted a paltry .121 to go along with striking out in 33% of his at-bats.  Since he had the classic, “trouble with the curve” and did nothing to distinguish himself over the next couple of years in the minors.  The Houston Astros selected him in the Rule V draft, but they ultimately returned him to the now Oakland A’s and they decided to see if he could parlay his strong throwing arm into a pitching career.  

This move proved to be a better route to a long-term baseball career.  During his first season as a pitcher in 1968 he appeared in both A and AA ball, going a combined 6-3 with a 3.60 ERA working both as a starter and as a reliever.  The expansion Seattle Pilots thought enough of his potential to make him the 46^th overall selection in the draft and he followed them to Milwaukee where he served primarily as a starting pitcher between parts of the 1969 through 1973 seasons.  They were a bad team and his record reflected it, going a mere 28-55, but he pitched to a fairly respectable 3.75 ERA.

In 1974 he was traded to the California Angels as part of a 9-player deal and cash.  The Angels decided to convert Lockwood to the bullpen and his single season in Anaheim resulted in 37 appearances in relief, but the results were mediocre.  He finished with a 4.32 ERA and was then was traded straight up to the NY Yankees for catcher Bill Sudakis.  After failing to make the club out of Spring Training, he was released in April and for the third time signed on the with the A’s who then sold him to the Mets.

At age 28 something just clicked and his first partial year for the Mets in 1975 he went a mere 1-3 over 24 games but pitched to a remarkable 1.49 ERA.  In 1976 he continued his bullpen dominance, going 10-7 over 56 games which included 19 saves and a 2.67 ERA.  In 1977 he established a then club-record 63 games and saved 20 games.  In 1978 he was down to 15 saves.  He finished up his Mets career in 1979 with 9 saves and another 1.49 ERA.  Overall for the Mets he didn’t do too well when it came to wins and losses at a combined 24-36, but his career Mets ERA was just 2.80 and he saved 65 games.