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barrysloateIn the end all baseball cards were issued for commercial purposes. If there was no money to be made by issuing a card, the card wouldn't exist. Therefore, product advertising trumps everything else- be it front design, players in the set, etc. A century later the checklists and players are most important to collectors. At the time of issue selling a product was the only reason the cards existed. We perceive them differently today than others did then.