MLB umpire Pat Hoberg fired for violating betting policy
Major League Baseball fired Pat Hoberg on Monday after the umpire was revealed to share a legal sportsbook account with a professional poker player who bet on baseball.
The decision was upheld after Hoberg appealed, because of “Hoberg’s failure to uphold the integrity of the game by sharing sports betting accounts with a professional poker player and friend who bet on baseball and whom Hoberg should have known bet on baseball, and due to Hoberg’s intentional deletion of messages central to MLB’s investigation into his conduct,” the league announced.
In a statement Monday, the league said “throughout the investigation and appeals process, Hoberg adamantly denied betting on baseball directly or indirectly (i.e., through his friend), and the data provided by the sportsbooks does not show any baseball bets from his own electronic devices.
MLB found no evidence that Hoberg or anyone else took any action to manipulate the outcomes of any games, and an analysis of the betting data did not show any discernible patterns indicative of an integrity risk.”
Hoberg, 38, was promoted to the full-time MLB umpiring staff on Feb. 21, 2017, according to his biography on the league’s website. He has been working postseason games since 2018 (an American League Wild Card series game at Yankee Stadium).
Hoberg received his first World Series field staff assignment in 2022 after taking on replay duties for the 2021 World Series.