Lawrence Donald "Bobby" Locke (March 3, 1934 – June 4, 2020) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) in all or parts of nine seasons (–; –) for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and California Angels. During his playing days, he stood tall, weighing .

Major League career

Cleveland Indians

Locke made his Indians' debut in 1959 against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

. He was the starting pitcher for the Indians, and his first pitch was to Don Buddin. After recording two outs, the first hit he gave up was to

Vic Wertz Victor Woodrow Wertz (February 9, 1925 – July 7, 1983) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder. He had a 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career from 1947 to 1963. He played for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Brown ...

, which resulted in Gene Stephens scoring the first run against Locke. In his debut he pitched for 5 2/3 innings and gave up five runs, but still managed to walk away with the

no-decision A no decision (sometimes written no-decision) is one of either of two sports statistics scenarios; one in baseball and softball, and the other in boxing and related combat sports. Baseball and softball A starting pitcher who leaves a game withou ...

. However, his main contribution to his debut was hitting a home run off Frank Sullivan, which resulted in three runs being scored. This was to be the only home run of his career. In 1959 overall, he posted a 3.13

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 24 games, seven of them started. He struck out 40 batters, walked 41 and posted a record of 3–2. In 1960, Locke posted a 3–5 record, with an ERA of 3.37. He started 11 of the 32 games he appeared in and struck out 53 batters in 123 innings. He also completed the only two games of his career that year. In 1961 he posted a 4.53 ERA while giving up 112 hits in 95.1 innings. He walked 40 batters, struck out 37 and posted a 4–4 record.

Career after the Indians

After the 1961 season, Locke was traded to the Chicago Cubs for

Jerry Kindall Gerald Donald Kindall (May 27, 1935 – December 24, 2017) was an American professional baseball player and college baseball player and coach. He was primarily a second baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) who appeared in 742 games played over ...

. He moved to the

for the 1962 season but after only playing one game with them, he moved to the Philadelphia Phillies. Between 1962 and 1964, Locke appeared in 22 games for the Phillies, with a record of one win and no losses.

Totals

Overall, Locke had a 16–15 record in 165 games. In 416.2 innings pitched, he walked 165 batters (bases on balls) and struck out 194 while allowing 432 hits. As a batter he made 25 hits in 98 at-bats for a .255 career batting average with one home run and 12 RBI. As a fielder, he achieved a .968 fielding percentage.

References

External links

Bobby Locke
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Bobby Locke
at Baseball Almanac
Bobby Locke
at Baseball Gauge {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Bobby 1934 births 2020 deaths Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players California Angels players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Daytona Beach Islanders players Hawaii Islanders players Indianapolis Indians players Keokuk Kernels players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Fayette County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Phillies players Reading Indians players St. Louis Cardinals players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Seattle Angels players Sherbrooke Indians players Syracuse Chiefs players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players