MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 GENE LOCKLEAR

Here’s a card for a guy who had a few “missing” cards during the 1970’s, and this one easily should have been his true rookie card after seeing more than enough action during the 1973 season, Gene Locklear and his 1974 card:

I’ve already created a 1977 card for him as a member of the New York Yankees, and today’s card has him with the San Diego Padres, for whom he ended up finishing the year with after coming up with the Cincinnati Reds.
All told Locklear played in 96 games in ’73, collecting 42 hits over 180 official at-bats for a .233 batting average while playing the outfield.
Funny enough his rookie card would end up being in the 1975 set after a season that saw him appear in only 39 games with 74 at-bats, less than half the action.
Go figure, but we have seen this before haven’t we?
Locklear would end up putting in five-years in the Major Leagues, finishing up with the Yankees as mentioned before in 1977 in which he appeared in a single game, yet went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and a run scored! That’s a heck of a final game!
He’d end up with a career .274 average based on his 163 hits in 595 at-bats in 292 games playing for the three teams mentioned above.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 GENE LOCKLEAR

Here’s a “missing” 1977 Topps card for former outfielder Gene Locklear, who split the 1976 season between the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.:

Locklear played in a combined 56 games during the ‘76 season, batting .222 with 22 hits in 99 official at-bats.
He scraped together a five-year career in the Majors, though his final season was a single game in the Bronx, which actually saw him go 3 for 5 with two runs batted in and a run scored.
Not a bad way to go out!
All told he batted  a respectable .274 with 163 hits over 595 at-bats, with 76 runs scored and 66 RBI’s.
Those are pretty solid numbers over a 162-game schedule, though for Locklear this represented his 292 games in the Big Leagues.
Nevertheless seems he was a pretty good hitter during his time up playing with the Cincinnati Reds, Padres and Yanks.