First off, here’s the 1972 Padres rookie-card that showed up in packs in 1972:
Now, here’s the original negative that the people at Topps touched up to show Fast with his new team, though you can clearly see the Chicago Cubs uni on him:
Funny thing is, at that time Fast appeared in his ONLY Major League games back in 1968, with the Cubs as a 21-year old, and never made it back to a Big League mound.
In eight appearances during the 1968 season he posted a record of 0-1 with a bloated 5.40 earned run average in 10 innings of work, with a very nice 10 strikeouts but a not-so nice eight walks.
As a matter of fact, Darcy Fast didn’t even suit up with ANY organization in 1971, last pitching for the Padres minor league Salt Lake City Bees in 1970 after starting out the year with the Tacoma Cubs.
Strange that Topps didn’t have any other players to include in the set that year but a guy who not only didn’t play in the Majors the previous season, but the Minors as well!
Turns out Darcy would never see another pro game regardless of level again, making for an odd inclusion in the set, with a classic Topps paint-job to boot!
