Jay's got that right. For more background on the tobacco company search American Tobacco Company on Wikipedia.
Mr. O may well be right about the chase card idea. After reading and listening to The Glory Of Their Times I think Honus Wagner was about the best ball player ever. (Not just as of 1909, but on through to 2021.) So he'd be the perfect chase card.
I think it was an issue about compensation for use of his likeness. And it seems reasonable that Wagner would have become aware of the cards after some cards were distributed with cigarettes; not when the cards were printed but not yet distributed.
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