Hi Tom -- wouldn't presume to disagree with your experienced observations and critique of the quality of the figures,
but the fact that they look identical to those pictured on the gameboard / playing field of McLoughlin's circa 1892 Base Ball Game
certainly associates them in some way with McLoughlin.
American Antiquarian was indeed our source for the McLoughlin catalogues, and with a little further digging there earlier last evening,
we did spot an "American Jockeys" set of horse-racing-themed paper dolls (the only sports-themed paper doll set we've found),
and other sets of paper dolls, er, cut-outs, for boys, featuring "Wild West", Boy Scouting, and marching band figures,
as well as the previously noted military sets, in the 1910s-era catalogues. Still haven't seen anything baseball-related, though.
However, the digitized catalogues are far from a complete run, and even several of those present are missing pages.
The mystery continues, and therefore so must the search...
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