NEW YORK (AP) — Umpire Pat Hoberg was fired by Major League Baseball on Monday for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to the league's investigation.
MLB opened the investigation last February when it was brought to its attention by the sportsbook, and Hoberg did not umpire last season. While MLB said the investigation did not uncover evidence Hoberg personally bet on baseball or manipulated games, MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill recommended on May 24 that Hoberg be fired.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday he upheld Hill's decision. Among the highest-rated umpires at judging the strike zone, Hoberg can apply for reinstatement no earlier than 2026 spring training.
MLB said the friend made 141 baseball bets between April 2, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2023, totaling almost $214,000 with an overall win of nearly $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," Manfred said in a statement. "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. 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.”
Now 38, Hoberg became a professional umpire in 2009, made his big league debut as a call-up on March 31, 2014, and joined the major league staff ahead of the 2017 season. During Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, he had an unprecedented “umpire's perfect game” by accurately calling balls and strikes on all 129 taken pitches, according to Umpire Scorecards.
“I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s statement,” Hoberg said in a statement. "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.”
Hoberg was notified of his termination on May 31 for violating Article 9 (A) of the umpires' collective bargaining agreement, which states the umpire must "conform to high standards of personal conduct; and maintain the integrity of the international game of baseball.” Under the labor contract, Hoberg had the right to appeal Hill's decision, triggering the hiring by MLB of a neutral fact finder who made a report to Manfred.
MLB said the sportsbook notified it that Hoberg opened an account in his name on Jan. 30 last year and an electronic device associated with the account had accessed an account in the name of another person, who had bet on baseball.
Hoberg’s devices placed 417 direct bets with Sportsbook A between Dec. 30, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2024, on the friend’s accounts totaling $487,475.83, which lost $53,189.65 in the aggregate. The devices placed at least 112 bets with Sportsbook B totaling $222,130 that resulted in a loss of $21,686.96 in the aggregate. Most of the direct bets were on football, basketball, hockey and golf.
Nineteen of the 141 baseball bets by the friend were made from Hoberg’s home and eight involved five games that Hoberg umpired or was a replay umpire. MLB detailed those games:
—On April 13, 2021, Hoberg had three close calls at third base that MLB said he ruled correctly on. There were money line bets of $2,000 and $1,000 on Cincinnati, which lost to San Francisco 7-6.
—On June 15, 2021, Hoberg was the lead replay umpire and there were no replay reviews in a Chicago Cubs’ 3-2 loss to the New York Mets. There was a $1,050 bet on a live runs line, a baseball equivalent of a points spread, and the bet won and paid $1,550.
—On Aug. 15, 2021, Hoberg was the plate umpire for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 14-4 win over the Mets and had 98.89% accuracy, missing two pitches that MLB said were in low-leverage situations and benefited Los Angeles. Six calls were in a “buffer zone” and four went against the Dodgers and two against the Mets. A $3,200 money line bet for the Dodgers paid $5,200.
—On Oct. 8, 2021, Hoberg was the third base umpire for the Dodgers’ 4-0 loss to San Francisco in an NL Division Series opener and did not have any close calls. A $2,000 money line bet and $3,000 run line bet on the Giants both won and paid a combined $9,300.
—On Oct. 30, 2021, Hoberg was lead replay official for World Series Game 4. Houston challenged on a possible overslide by Atlanta’s Austin Riley at second base in the sixth inning of the Braves’ 3-2 win and Hoberg upheld the call by Alfonso Márquez, a decision MLB said was supported by its replay operations center staff. Money line bets on Houston of $3,000 and $1,050 on the Astros both lost.
“Although the baseball bets were profitable, the data did not support a finding that baseball bets from Individual A’s accounts were connected to game-fixing or other efforts to manipulate any part of any baseball game or event,” MLB said in its findings. “The baseball betting activity did not focus on any particular club, pitcher or umpire, and there was no apparent correlation between bet success and bet size. The eight bets on games Hoberg worked similarly did not reveal any obvious pattern.”
After being contacted by MLB investigators, the friend deleted Telegram threads communicating the bets and tracking amounts owed and, after a phone conversation between Hoberg and the friend, the umpire deleted his Telegram account, according to MLB. MLB said Hoberg told it during the investigation and appeal that he had been unaware of his friend’s baseball bets.
“If our union believed that an umpire bet on baseball, we would never defend him,” the Major League Umpires Association said in a statement. "But as today’s statement from the league makes clear, the neutral fact finder did not find that Pat placed bets on baseball. Yet we respect Pat’s unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for the mistakes that led to his termination.”
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