no. 433 - skip lockwood

Who is the man: Skip Lockwood had completed his first season with the Milwaukee Brewers when this card first appeared in packs. He started 26 games in 1970, winning five, with a 4.29 ERA.

Can ya dig it: Lockwood is wearing glasses for the first time on his baseball cards. They won't appear again on a Topps card until the 1978 set, although he is donning glasses on his '76 SSPC card and a couple other oddball issues.

Right on: You can see there that Skip is actually "Claude". Skip's dad was named Claude, too.

You see that cat Lockwood is a bad mother: Lockwood came into his own when he converted to relief pitching around the 1974 season. He saved 19 games for the Mets in 1976, which was second-best in the National League (behind Rawly Eastwick's 26).

Shut your mouth: Lockwood began his career as a third baseman. In fact, on his first card, a four-player rookie card in the 1965 Topps set, his position is listed as "infield".

No one understands him but his woman: Lockwood's wife, Kathleen, wrote a book that was published in 2010, called "Major League Bride," which recounts the life of a major league wife through travel, trades and injuries. In fact, she left a comment on my 1975 Topps blog.

 (A word about the back): The Hearst Sandlot Classic was an annual game played first at the Polo Grounds and then at Yankee Stadium. Backed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the game lasted from 1946 to 1965, although similar sandlot games continued until 1970.