Lockwood received a $100,000 bonus to sign with the A’s as a third baseman in 1964, but he didn’t hit and converted to pitching in 1968. He failed again, as a starting pitcher, and began the switch to relieving in 1973, his last year with Milwaukee. He finally achieved a modicum of success as the ace of the Mets’ bullpen in the late 1970s; his 19 saves in 1976 tied him for second in the NL and 20 saves in 1977 (when he set a since-broken Met record with 63 appearances) was good for a tie for fifth. He got his nickname of Jaws (after the shark movie) at this time for “chewing up” batters. But in 1978 he dropped off to 15 saves and tied Rollie Fingers for the league lead with 13 relief losses, the third-worst NL mark ever. In June 1979 he went on the DL with tissue tears in his shoulder and missed the rest of the season; a comeback attempt with Boston in 1980 failed.
