Skip Lockwood is considered one of the most prominent early baseball card photographers and publishers. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1931, Lockwood was a lifelong baseball fan who became fascinated with capturing images of his favorite players on the field. In the late 1950s, as the modern baseball card industry was first taking shape, Lockwood saw an opportunity to combine his love of the game with his newfound passion for photography.
Lockwood got his start in 1959 by approaching executives at Topps, the dominant brand in the nascent baseball card market. Showing examples of his candid action shots from games, Lockwood convinced Topps to hire him as one of their first outdoor photographers. His task was to capture high quality images of major league players during actual games, a step above the posed studio portraits Topps had primarily relied on until that point.
Lockwood embraced the challenge, spending entire baseball seasons roaming around stadiums with his bulky camera equipment. He had to learn to anticipate moments of action and get the perfect shot in mere seconds before the play unfolded. His dynamic on-field images were a hit with collectors and helped elevate Topps’ aesthetics to a new standard. As a result, Lockwood took on a pioneering role in establishing the artistic style of the golden age of baseball cards in the 1960s.
Through the 1960s, Lockwood cemented his reputation as one of the best and most prolific photographers in the business. Aside from Topps, he also contributed legendary photos to card issues from other companies like Fleer and Golden. Lockwood became adept at chasing down hard-to-find stars and snapping photos even the most camera-shy players, gaining unprecedented access few others in the field enjoyed. Some of his most famous pictures include shots of Willie Mays robbing a home run and Ron Santo sliding into third base.
Lockwood’s innovative techniques also left an imprint on the baseball card industry. He was among the first to experiment with different color films and lighting techniques. He pushed the boundaries to try more candid action shots as opposed to traditional stiff poses. And Lockwood helped introduce the now-standard vertical card format still used today. Through the 1960s and 70s, it’s estimated Lockwood took over 100,000 photos that were reproduced on baseball cards, more than any other photographer of the era.
In addition to his photography work, Lockwood also founded his own short-lived baseball card publishing company, Jetform Cards, in 1964. This marked one of the earliest attempts by an independent entity to directly compete with the “Big Three” of Topps, Fleer, and Leaf. Jetform issued just three series between 1964-66 focusing largely on off-beat photographic concepts and unique designs that didn’t conform to typical card standards. Though short-lived, Jetform explored more experimental avenues that foreshadowed how independent publishers would challenge the industry going forward.
Lockwood continued taking photographs for Topps and other companies actively through the 1970s, but shifting economic trends saw the baseball card market contract during that decade. With less demand for new photographer, Lockwood transitioned away from the baseball card field and focused on other commercial photography opportunities. He shifted towards portraiture, product photography, and taking photos for various publications through the remainder of his career.
However, Lockwood’s groundbreaking early contributions to the baseball card industry were not forgotten. In the growing nostalgia-driven collecting renaissance of the 1980s and 90s, his classic 1960s action shots from Topps became exceedingly popular and valuable. Today, pristine examples of Lockwood’s earliest photographed rookie cards regularly sell for thousands of dollars. Prominent players he shot early in their careers, like Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, are especially coveted.
In the modern evaluation of early baseball card history, Lockwood is universally acknowledged as one of the pioneers who helped define the artistic look and feel of the golden age. His action-packed on-field photos set the standard that succeeding generations of photographers and publishers aspired to match. Even after passing away in 2020 at the age of 88, Lockwood’s legacy lives on through the thousands of his images that remain in the hands of collectors worldwide – enduring documentation of the time he so vibrantly captured behind the lens on the field. Skip Lockwood left an indelible imprint on the origins of the modern baseball card industry.
