The earliest ad that I found was from early March, 1910. The cards were positioned as "Baseball pictures". I've gathered a sampling of the ads from various states and present them in chronological order.
The Times Dispatch - Richmond, Virginia March 2, 1910 |
Daily Public Ledger - Maysville, Kentucky April 8, 1910 |
Daily Public Ledger - Maysville, Kentucky June 10, 1910 |
Daily Public Ledger - Maysville, Kentucky June 17, 1910 |
Daily Public Ledger - Maysville, Kentucky June 24, 1910 |
In Texas, the ad copy varies. They are featuring "Texas League baseball pictures".
Palestine Daily Herald - Palestine, Texas September 12, 1910 |
El Paso Herald - El Paso, Texas October 18, 1910 |
In Honolulu, they drop the ad copy, but continue to show the picture of the pack with the cards.
Evening Bulletin - Honolulu, Territory of Hawai'i July 20, 1911 |
Evening Bulletin - Honolulu, Territory of Hawai'i August 17, 1911 |
There probably are other examples showing various sporting or manly type activities. Although women are featured in some of the ads, they are not shown smoking.
This is not a 'new' find. Guys on the Net 54 Vintage Baseball Card Forum were discussing this in December of 2008.
UPDATE: I found a site, jimonym.com, that has 26 different Old Mill ads. There is nothing new under the sun.
images from the Library of Congress's Chronicling America - Historic American Newspapers
Funny, I always assumed there was one baseball card in a pack. How many were there and did it vary?
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