MLB maintains firing of UMP Pat Hoberg for violations of games

After a prolonged appeal process, Major League Baseball Monday fired Umpire Pat Hoberg to “share” Sports Betting accounts with a friend who bets on baseball and to intentionally delete message key to the investigation of his behavior.

MLB said that Hoberg “Adamant denied bets on baseball directly or indirectly” and that there was no “proof” that Hoberg or anyone else took any action to manipulate the results of any game.

In his statement, MLB said it fired Hoberg for not “maintaining the integrity of the game” and that he “should have known” that his friend – a professional poker player – had put on baseball from the shared account.

The 38-year-old Hoberg, who was widely considered the best judge in Ball-Strike in MLB, can apply for reintroduction earlier than the start of spring training in 2026.

“I take full responsibility for the mistakes of the judgment described in today’s statement (by MLB)” said Hoberg in a statement via Major League Baseball Umpires Association (MLBUA). “These mistakes will always be a source of shame and embarrassment for me.

“Major League Baseball Umpires are kept to a high standard of personal behavior and my own behavior came under this standard. That said, to be ready, I never and would never bet on baseball in any way, form or form. I have never delivered and would never give information to anyone for the purpose of betting on baseball.

MLB began his study of Hoberg in February 2024, after the long -term judge 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 associated with the legal sports betting account for a person who had a rate on baseball.

In addition, it turned out that Hoberg also had intentionally deleted messages that were central to MLB’s study of his behavior.

He was then removed from spring training and made inactive for the 2024 season pending the investigation.

On May 24, 2024, MLB Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations Michael Hill determined that Hoberg’s “behavior and extremely bad judgment” created a situation where he “couldn’t trust” to maintain the integrity of the game on the field. He was fired on May 31, but he appealed the process, which led to Monday’s maintenance of his resignation.

“A comprehensive study revealed no evidence that Mr. Hoberg placed efforts on baseball directly, or that he or any other manipulated game in any way,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred in the league’s release on Monday. “However, his extremely poor judgment was by sharing betting accounts with a professional poker player, he had reason to believe that baseball is betting and who actually bet on baseball from the shared accounts, combined with his deletion of messages, creates the least the appearance of inappropriate that guarantees to impose the most serious discipline.

“Therefore, there is just reason to maintain Mr. Hoberg’s termination so as not to comply with high standards of personal behavior and to maintain the integrity of the baseball game.”

Hoberg, 38, is best known for his perfect performance in Game 2 in the 2022 World Series when he was the record Umpire and called all 129 balls and strikes correctly.

In his statement Monday, Hoberg apologized and said he promised “to learn from (mistakes) and to be a better version of myself moving on.”

Hoberg was first unmarried Major League matches in 2014 and became a full-time referee in 2017. He judged after seasonal matches every year from 2018 to 2022 and was awarded pool games in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

“We thank Commissioner Manfred for his careful consideration of Pat Hoberg’s appeal,” Mlbua said in his own statement. “As Major League Baseball Umpires, we have devoted our professional life to maintaining the rules and integrity of the game. If our union believed that a referee -initiative on baseball, we would never defend him. But as today’s statement from the league does That clear, makes it clear, the neutral factfinder did not find that Pat placed bets on baseball.