I don't buy the 1978 date for McDonalds. I lived in the Boston area in 78, and went to McDonalds fairly often. Never saw any cards there of any kind.
The date I've heard in the past was 1975, which might be correct. Supposedly the happy meal prize for someone eating in was a choice from the "fun chest " or something like that and the individual cards were one of the choices. I vaguely recall the prize box, but not the cards as we ate there very little (Moved to a more urban town for HS in 77) The red hats were more of a 75 thing as well, so team issue 75 and maybe 76 would have them.
Even back then there was some confusion about what were McDonalds cards and which were the team issue. Of the 4 in the op, the Fisk matches what I've always thought of as the McDonalds cards. The others would be team issue.
BUT that could be entirely wrong, or even reversed from what they really are.
It's sad in a way that the team issue and similar cards of the era from all sources weren't documented well at the time.
I don't know if it ever got expanded, but the listing for the small black and white cards sold outside the park in 78 was incomplete. There was a handful of "high numbers" with unidentified pics of late season call ups.
Very tough set, maybe tougher than the McDonalds cards which aren't easy.
Steve B
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