I think likely the P&S cards appeared before 1870.
For one, the Atlantics card says "1868" on it. If the card first appeared in 1870, why issue the 1868 team as opposed to the 1869 or 1870 team? The composition of the team had changed over that period, and inasmuch as the cards were issued to promote P&S products, one would expect the merchant would want the cards to depict the current team so as to maximize customer interest in the cards.
Second, as was discussed in a previous thread, likely there were separate printings of the Red Stockings card, as reflected in (1) the ink color used (the colored inks suggesting an 1870 issuance (Red Stockings --red, Athletics -- blue, Mutuals -- green)) , (2) the ad on the verso (the ice skate ad suggesting a winter 1869-70 issuance), and (3) the contrast of the photo (the cards with the red ink have consistently worse contrast than the black-ink cards, suggesting an end-of-negative-run (i.e., 1870) printing).
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