Major League Baseball (MLB) has terminated the employment of umpire Pat Hoberg for violation of the league’s gambling rules. 

MLB originally decided to terminate Hoberg from his position in May 2024, with that decision now upheld following an appeal by Hoberg.

Umpires in the MLB are allowed to place legal sports bets on sports other than baseball. However, the league was alerted by a sports betting operator that Hoberg had opened a sports betting account under his own name but on a device associated with another individual who was not covered by MLB’s policies.

As such, MLB investigated the connection between the two to see if Hoberg breached MLB rules. During the investigation, Hoberg was found to have deleted messages he had been sending to the individual via the messaging app Telegram and, therefore, was seen to be impeding the investigation. 

MLB was unable to find direct evidence linking Hoberg to bets on baseball; however, the governing body determined that Hoberg had failed to uphold the integrity of the game by sharing sports betting accounts with someone who did place bets on baseball.

“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. An extensive investigation revealed no evidence that Hoberg placed bets on baseball directly or that he or anyone else manipulated games in any way,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. 

“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 Hoberg’s termination for failing to conform to high standards of personal conduct and to maintain the integrity of the game of baseball.”

On the rejection of his appeal, Hoberg commented: “I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s 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.”