Sports' Forgotten Heroes

In 1964, Skip Lockwood was being looked at by several Major League Baseball teams. The Kansas City A’s and their general manager Pat Friday offered Lockwood a signing bonus of $35,000. Lockwood wrote a “1” in front of the 35 and convinced Friday and A’s owner Charlie Finley he was worth every penny. Finley agreed and Lockwood’s career was underway. A third baseman, one week out of high school, Lockwood joined the A’s on the road for some batting practice before he was to be assigned to a minor league team. The A’s batting practice pitcher didn’t care too much for Lockwood and beaned him. Quite a rude welcome; and that’s just one of the many stories Lockwood tells us on this edition of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes. Converted to a pitcher after not succeeding as a hitter, Lockwood was the No. 1 man out of the pen for the New York Mets of the mid-1970s closing out games for the likes of Seaver, Koosman and Matlack. He threw in the mid- to upper-90s and stared down some of the game’s best, guys like Aaron, Reggie, Sc