[Joe_G.]

Rob, I don't believe the numbering had to do with batting order but instead was likely carried over from the negative to the card. Many of the surviving glass plate negatives have tape on them from the original photographer that identifies the players name and team. This piece of tape would also often include a number as a way of indexing/tracking the negatives. Gray Studio (many of the 1887 photos) numbered each player photographed, all Stump Weidman's, for example, are number 1846. Another studio, Gilbert & Bacon, numbered the Bobby Mathews example below as C.305. I suspect the Old Judge card maker accidently included these numbers in the players nameplate on the St. Louis Whites cards while comprising the St. Louis Whites composite (sheet of cards). The mistake was likely noticed and not repeated but also not corrected.