Whether causation or coincidence, that is a very interesting discovery!
I have wondered if we have it flipped upside down, and Rodgers and Brown were not removed but rather were late additions.
The latest date on any other card is December 1, 1911 on Abe Attell. Most of the biographies end in mid-late 1911, with only a couple exceptions (like Jack Johnson not going past July 4, 1910, a remnant of hijacking his T218/9 write-ups).
Rodgers card mentions his death in April of 1912 (thus, he clearly wasn't pulled because he died - they knew that before even finalizing his card). The last race mentioned on the back of Brown's card was in June of 1912, placing these several months after all of the other subjects biographies ends. It seems off to me, unlikely these two were available at the very beginning of production and quickly pulled. That's a very long lead time.
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