My best guess is that these were given to retailers (think Boston Garter but not as nice) to help advertise/sell the line of clothing. By showing a player(s) it would give an implicit endorsement of the product, not unlike any other advertising sign....card
. They seem to be too big to be anything but an advertising sign, imo....It would be nice to find a mention of a player getting a few bucks for letting their likeness be used for promotion.