My understanding has always been that there are far more than two series of 1940 Play Ball cards. I believe the cards retailed two for a penny, and in those days a series was rarely more than 36 cards (the 1933 Goudey set was issued in ten series of 24 cards each).
What's confusing you is the huge price jump that occurs after card 180. That doesn't mean that the first 180 cards were issued all at once. It only means that they were issued in roughly equal quantities.
Actually, with the change in advertising after card 120, it would seem logical (and likely) that the series size was sixty cards. Cards #1-60 would have been released first, followed by #61-120, at which point there was a decision made to promote the "Superman" set on the back. In 1962, Topps advertised their football set on the back of the higher numbered baseball cards.
By the time the fourth and final series (181-240) was released, it was probably the end of summer and kids were getting tired of the set, preparing to return to school, and possibly looking forward to football season (although football wasn't really a thing back then). Also, under the old non-divisional postseason structutre, it's likely that only kids in three or four cities at the most had teams that were still in the pennant race. Thus, the last series, like so many other final series' throughout the years, didn't sell well.
To sum up, I'm certainly not old enough to have firsthand knowledge of how the cards were released, but the available evidence points to four series of sixty cards each. Anyone who knows differently is invited to join the conversation.
Alan
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