Major League Baseball announced on Monday that it fired veteran umpire Pat Hoberg due to his involvement in a sports betting scandal.
The latest gambling controversy to hit professional sports, MLB found that Hoberg violated its rules given his close connection to a series of bets made on the game. The league has a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding gambling on baseball, with a variety of punishments dependent on the severity of the violation.
The Sporting News breaks down MLB’s decision to fire one of its best umpires.
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MLB umpire gambling controversy, explained
MLB fired umpire Pat Hobeg for sharing his online sports gambling account with a friend and poker player, who subsequently bet on baseball games. Additionally, the league found that Hoberg deleted messages directly associated with its investigation.
While the league did not find that Hoberg bet on games himself, the evidence was enough for MLB to take action. The league says that from April 2021 to November 2023, Hoberg’s friend made 141 baseball bets of a combined $214,000 and a profit of almost $35,000.
“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,” commissioner Rob Manfred said, via the Associated Press. “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.”
According to the Associated Press, the league opened an investigation into Hoberg last year and held the umpire out of games until the investigation was settled. MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill reportedly recommended to Manfred last May that Hoberg be fired from his job.
Who is Pat Hoberg?
Hoberg is a 38-year-old umpire who is known as one of the best umps in the league. He made his MLB umpiring debut in 2014, and in 2022, during game 2 of the World Series between the Astros and Phillies, Hoberg called an umpire’s “perfect game” by not missing any balls-and-strikes calls.
While Hoberg made it clear that he did not bet on games himself, he took full responsibility for his actions in a statement.
“I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s statement,” Hoberg said. “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.”
Pat Hoberg says in a statement: “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.” https://t.co/1szwb3shhE pic.twitter.com/Id7YFWuNum
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 3, 2025
Hoberg is eligible to apply for reinstatement as early as spring training in 2026. As written in the MLB rulebook, any “player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee” who is found to legally violate gambling rules on games in which they aren’t participating will be “declared ineligible for one year.”
