hi, this sub isn't always the deepest in sports historians, so if you don't get an answer here, you might try x-posting to /r/baseball or /r/WhiteSox

In addition to what /u/Searocksandtrees said, the word deserve is as loaded as a man in a bar on payday. I don't know if it's objectively possible to say someone deserves anything.

Yes. I hate to say that, but the integrity of the new league was at stake. From the 1880's to the 1920's, there had been many other leagues start up and fail. The National League and the American League had found a stable footing and was trying to survive and keep the best talent in the sport.

At the same time, there were other leagues that would pitch games, sell results, and made no bones about the fact that the results didn't always show the best team winning.

Major League Baseball was something different. It was meant to be professional ballplayers working on showing off their talent. If the best exhibition of the season was sold to the highest bidder, the games had no meaning.

If the response of the Commissioner of Baseball was not certain, swift and severe, fans would still wonder if the results were fixed. By banning all those involved, the game could limp on for a few more years until a guy named George Herman started belting home runs.