By Shawn Stewart
Major League Baseball announced on Monday that that a decision to terminate umpire Pat Hoberg’s employment was upheld after an appeal.
Hoberg, 38, denied betting on baseball, data provided by sportsbooks doesn’t show any baseball bets from his devices, and MLB found no evidence that he manipulated the outcome of any games, but MLB says he intentionally deleted messages related to the league’s probe.
MLB said Hoberg failed “to uphold the integrity of the game” by sharing betting accounts with a pro poker player “whom Hoberg should have known bet on baseball.”
Hoberg had originally been fired on May 31, 2024, after MLB had launched an investigation in February of that same year after receiving information that he had opened a sports betting account with a sportsbook in his own name.
Upon the investigation, MLB discovered that his personal electronic device had been associated with the account of an individual who had bet on baseball.
“Hoberg was subsequently removed from Spring Training and made inactive for the 2024 Championship Season pending completion of the investigatory process. On May 24, 2024, Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations Michael Hill determined that, based on the totality of the circumstances, including impeding the investigation into his conduct, Hoberg’s conduct and extremely poor judgment created a situation in which Hoberg could not be trusted to ‘maintain the integrity of the international game of baseball’ on the field as required by Article 9.A of the CBA,” according to a league statement.
Hoberg has expressed remorse for his actions and said that he took “full responsibility for the errors in judgment” in a statement to The Athletic on Monday.
Viewed as one of the best umpires in the game, Hoberg is eligible to apply for reinstatement at the start of spring training in 2026.
“Those errors will always be a source of shame and embarrassment to me,” Hoberg said. “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,” Hoberg added. “I vow to learn from them and to be a better version of myself moving forward.”
The controversy stems from Hoberg’s friendship with an individual he met at a 2014 poker tournament and went on to golf together, travel and watch sports on TV together, with the person — identified as individual A’ — even staying with Hoberg at his home in Iowa.
Hoberg’s friend eventually opened a sports betting account after it became legalized in Iowa in 2019.
According to the MLB report, Hoberg began asking his friend to place bets for him on non-baseball events and eventually the friend gave the MLB ump his login so that he could place the bets from Hoberg’s own devices when his friend wasn’t in Iowa, which you needed to be in order to place any wagers.
The pair kept track of any winnings or losses that Hoberg racked up via the messaging app Telegram as well as used the platform in order to communicate what bets Hoberg wanted placed.
The two would settle any debts in person and in cash.
The report stated that Hoberg and his friend had run afoul by deleting their messages with one another after MLB began its investigation.
Hoberg also deleted the Telegram app from his phone and the decision to erase the evidence made the messages irretrievable.
“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 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.”