NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 FRITZ PETERSON

Let’s cap-off the nice 11-year career for former pitcher Fritz Peterson with a 1977 “not so missing” card, though one could argue it’s borderline “missing” when you remember some of the other guys who got a card in the set:

Peterson appeared in 13 games playing for the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, throwing 62 innings and finishing with a 1-3 record along with an earned run average of 5.08.
In just the previous year he went 14-8 for the Indians, with a couple of shutouts and a 3.94 ERA, so the rapid decline was a surprise for the man who was also a former 20-game winner, something he did while with the New York Yankees in 1970.
While with the Yanks, he posted three straight seasons of sub-3.00 ERA’s between 1968-1970: 2.63, 2.55 and 2.90, while posting win totals of 12, 17 and 20.
By the time he retired after the 1976 season, he ended up with a career record of 133-131, with a nice 3.30 ERA and 20 shutouts over 355 appearances and 2218.1 innings pitched.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!- THE ODD PAINT JOB ON FRITZ PETERSON'S 1976 CARD

Can anyone explain to me what is going on with Fritz Peterson's 1976 Topps card (#255)?

While it looks like his image was airbrushed COMPLETELY, it doesn't make sense since he was already a starter for the Cleveland Indians for almost two years at that point.

It doesn't really look like a "regular" airbrush job, but look at the card and decide for yourself:

 

One of the more inexplicable airbrush/touch-up jobs...

 

Look around his legs and the terrible paint job of whatever scoreboard was in the background. ???

What was it the "painter" was covering up back there? Why was it so necessary?

Really odd.

Does anyone know what the original photo was like?

Was it an old Yankee photo? And what was up with the background? What was back there that had to be airbrushed a solid green?!

I would love to know anything regarding this card!

As you ALL know by now, Peterson is perhaps best known for swapping families with teammate Mike Kekich in the early-70's while with the Yanks.

Funny enough, he swap worked out very well for Fritz, as he remained married to the former "Mrs. Kekich" and started their own family with four more kids over the years.

Sadly for Mike Kekich, it didn't work out nearly as well, as he and the former "Mrs. Peterson" divorced relatively soon afterwards.

Ahhh, those wild 1970's!