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Scot ReaderHi Jim,
On your first point, we know from newspaper advertising sketches that Hindus and Old Mills were tobacco pack inserts. We know from a American Tocacco Company documents that Tolstois and Uzits were tobacco pack inserts. We have witnessed Piedmonts and Sweet Caporals pulled from tobacco packs in the modern era. There is no comparable direct evidence that Cobb w/Cobb was ever an insert. To the best of my knowledge, there is not even circumstantial evidence on par with the tobacco stains commonly seen on Polar Bears. I don't think the existence of Ty Cobb tins and the back advertisement on the card itself are evidence of distribution of Cobb w/Cobb AS AN INSERT.
On your second point, maybe you're right that a common mode of distribution is not always essential for inclusion in a set. Let's say hypothetically that in 1909 an American Tobacco employee had printed up a dozen copies of a T206-like batting pose of Eddie Collins and gave them out to his friends as keepsakes. None were ever put any into cigarette packs so that the general public could acquire them. Would Collins (Batting) then be properly considered part of the T206 set? I think reasonable minds may differ on this point, but I would probably say that Collins (Batting) in that event would not be part of the set. Or consider the real-world case of the Goudey Lajoie that (as I understand it) was actually made available only to those who wrote to the company. Is a '33 Goudey set complete without that card? I think so--although I would respect others who have a different view.
On your third point, you are right that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Cobb w/Cobb COULD have been distributed contemporaneously with T206 cards. However, most people require something more than a mere possibility that an entity belongs in a group before identifying the entity to the group (and thus would require more than a mere possibility of contemporaneous distribution of Cobb w/Cobb and T206 before identifying Cobb w/Cobb to the T206 set). Contemporaneous distribution of Cobb w/Cobb and T206 cards could be ruled out if Factory 33, North Carolina did not exist until after April 1911. That would be a great research topic.
Scot