MLB fires umpire Pat Hoberg for gambling violations

Major League Baseball (MLB) has fired umpire Pat Hoberg for “sharing sports betting accounts” with a professional poker player and friend who bet on baseball, per ESPN. The league found no evidence that Hoberg bet on baseball games himself or manipulated them while working.

MLB originally fired Hoberg on May 31 last year, but Hoberg appealed the process. MLB upheld the decision on Monday afternoon.

The investigation of Pat Hoberg began in February 2024, after the veteran umpire opened an account with a licensed sports betting operator in his own name. The operator discovered that Hoberg’s personal electronic device associated with the new account was also linked with the legal sports betting account of a person who had bet on baseball. MLB also discovered that Hoberg intentionally deleted messages central to MLB’s investigation into his conduct.

“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,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in the league’s release Monday. “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.

Pat Hoberg issues statement after MLB’s decision

“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 apologized for his actions. “I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s statement [by MLB],” Hoberg said in a statement via the Major League Baseball Umpires Association (MLBUA). “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.”

Hoberg can apply for reinstatement no earlier than the start of spring training in 2026. The 38-year-old first umpired MLB games in 2014 and became a full-time umpire in 2017. Hoberg is known for his work in Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, correctly calling all 129 balls and strikes.