MLB dismisses umpire Pat Hoberg for violating gambling rules

Major League Baseball has confirmed its decision following an appeals process.

US.- Major League Baseball (MLB) has fired umpire Pat Hoberg for violating the league’s gambling rules. The original decision was made in May 2024 and upheld following an appeals process under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Umpires Association (MLBUA). Hoberg did not umpire a game during the 2024 regular season or postseason.

Hoberg denied betting on baseball,l and an MLB investigation found no evidence that he placed bets on baseball or that he took any action to manipulate the outcomes of games. But, according to the investigation, he shared legal sports betting accounts with a professional poker player and friend who did place bets on baseball.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said: “The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules governing sports betting conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans. An extensive investigation revealed no evidence that Mr. Hoberg placed bets on baseball directly or that he or anyone else manipulated games in any way.

“However, his extremely poor judgment in sharing betting accounts with a professional poker player he had reason to believe bet on baseball and who did, in fact, bet on baseball from the shared accounts, combined with his deletion of messages creates at minimum the appearance of impropriety that warrants imposing the most severe discipline. Therefore, there is just cause to uphold Mr. Hoberg’s termination for failing to conform to high standards of personal conduct and to maintain the integrity of the game of baseball.”

Hoberg first umpired Major League games in 2014 and became a full-time umpire in 2017. He umpired postseason games every year from 2018 to 2022 and in the World Baseball Classic in 2023. MLB’s investigation began in February 2024, when the league was alerted by a licensed sports betting operator that Hoberg had opened an account with a personal electronic device associated with the account of an individual not covered by MLB’s policies.

In a statement, Hoberg said: “I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s statement. Those errors will always be a source of shame and embarrassment to me. Major League Baseball umpires are held to a high standard of personal conduct, and my own conduct fell short of that standard. That said, to be clear, I have never and would never bet on baseball in any way, shape, or form. I have never provided, and would never provide, information to anyone for the purpose of betting on baseball. Upholding the integrity of the game has always been of the utmost importance to me.

“I apologize to Major League Baseball and the entire baseball community for my mistakes. I vow to learn from them and to be a better version of myself moving forward.”