Gene Locklear (born July 19, 1949) is an American professional baseball outfielder and commercial artist.

[2] Locklear attended Pembroke Senior High School, where he played baseball and gridiron football.

[2] Locklear received no offers to play college baseball, including from Pembroke State University.

[5] After graduating from high school, he worked on a road construction crew and played baseball semi-professionally.

In 1972, he played for the Indianapolis Indians of the Class AAA American Association and again won the batting title, finishing the season with a .325 average.

[7] Locklear made the Reds' Opening Day roster in 1973, making his major league debut on April 5.

On June 12, 1973, the Reds traded Locklear and Mike Johnson to the San Diego Padres for Fred Norman.

The Padres assigned Locklear to the Hawaii Islanders of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League to start the 1974 season.

[13] He hit four home runs in a game against the Columbus Clippers, tying an International League single-game record.

[14] Though the Yankees were competing for the postseason, they acquired Cliff Johnson and Dave Kingman rather than turn to Locklear.

[15] He signed a two-year contract worth over $100,000 per season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball.