Major League Baseball (MLB) has fired an umpire for violating sports gambling rules and deleting messages pertinent to the league’s investigation of his conduct.
The MLB launched an investigation into umpire Pat Hobert in February of last year after discovering he had been sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games.
“The league said that while the probe didn’t uncover evidence he personally bet on baseball or manipulated games, MLB senior vice president Michael Hill recommended on May 24 that Hoberg be fired. Hoberg didn’t umpire last season. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred upheld Hill’s decision,” noted Fox News.
Manfred said in a statement that Hoberg exercised “extremely poor judgement” by sharing his betting accounts with friends. He further stressed that Hoberg’s deletion of past messages during the investigation granted the “appearance of impropriety.”
“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,” Manfred said. “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,” he continued. 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.”
The investigation found that Hoberg’s friend made 141 baseball bets totaling $214,000 between April 2, 2023, and Nov. 1, 2023, with an overall earnings of $35,000.
Fox News noted that Hoberg had been “touted as one of the best in baseball” and “is among the highest-rated umpires at judging the strike zone.”
“He had an unprecedented ‘umpire’s perfect game’ when he accurately called balls and strikes on all 129 pitches in Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, according to computer tracking,” noted the outlet.
In a statement, Hoberg said that he takes “full responsibility” for his conduct and never intended to degrade the integrity of baseball.
“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.”
“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,” he added.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
