For decades it has been accepted in our hobby that the
only way collectors could obtain this card in 1934 was to write directly to the company and request it. And though there is documentation that this method certainly
could lead to acquisition of a Lajoie, given how many copies of this supposedly "rare" card there are, I wonder whether some were distributed another way. Again, this is just me thinking out loud, so to speak.
I don't think it would be a stretch to think that the company mailed a limited number of copies to retailers, with instructions to distribute them as they saw fit. There just seems to be way too many Goudey Lajoies to support the belief that the mail-in request was the only way to get one.
Peter, more to your question, I think we see more high-grade copies because many were obtained via the mail -- and like you say, if a person was going to take the trouble to write the company to get one, then he or she likely would have taken good care of it.
My non-high-grade copy:
