OK, so it is a 1936; still the earliest Ross item I've found, until I get conclusive proof that the Exhibit card predates all of it. I really like the album, so unless one shows up with the picures unmounted I guess I won't know what's on the back, since I won't be destroying this album.
As for the Clay rookie, I have no stake in this; I don't even own a Rekord Clay. My interest is purely academic, but I cannot see declaring them not to be cards on the basis of any of the arguments made here. What's on the back of the Rekord cards? A biography.
What's around the Rekord cards? An individual border.
The Rekord cards even have stand-alone copyrights on them, which is about as clear a hallmark of intent to have them separated from the magazine as you can get. They were as intended to be cut out and collected as any Bazooka or Post or strip issue. I don't see how you can not classify them as cards. The SI column you reference is a page in a magazine with printing of something else on its back. It was never intended to be cut out or collected; it is not even close to the same thing. A better analogy is this Al Rosen from the back of a Dell comic book:
It actually has a border but has unrelated matter at the bottom. However, it was printed with the phrase "Cut this photo out. Look for different champion pictures in other Dell Comics." I would treat the cut item as a card because the manufacturing shows the intent to have it cut out and collected. Or how about these:
1949 Philadelphia Bulletin. These were part of the Sunday "Fun Book" and were intended to be cut out and collected.
IMO the Rekord cover cards show the same intent.
There are tons of other examples throughout the ACC and Standard Catalog. Not to mention stuff that is even more out there. How about these? 1955 Big League, Inc., classifed as UM8 in the ACC:
Again, collect whatever you want, but you have to admit that your classification is more or less arbitrary given the history of what has been accepted as a card.