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Frank WakefieldBert Sugar's books, The Sports Collectors Bible, lists the T cards by team... T205s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s...
And I highly recommend it as the best way to sort the white border tobacco cards, T206s, once you get over about 400 of them. If you only have a few dozen, the alphabetical seems sensible. As you get close to 500 you'll get to where you know the ones you lack by heart, you won't need a checklist. At that point I found it more enlightening to look at the cards by team, and then sort the players alphabetically within the team. If you pick out a team you can see the progression in card style as you move from 150 series cards to the 350s, and on to the 460s. And you'll see that the pile of New York Giants cards is about 4 times as tall as the teams for Philadelphia or Boston.
I know the guides list cards alphabetically, and that makes sense if you're looking up one card. To really benefit from the visual impact of the set, really try sorting them by team.