Major League Baseball has cracked down on the violation of its gambling policies in recent years. On Friday, the MLB announced that they would be disciplining umpire Pat Hoberg for violating those same gambling policies.
Hoberg has made it known that he will appeal the discipline. The nature to which Hoberg made bets is not known. Neither is the nature of what that punishment might be, but Pat Hoberg has yet to umpire a game this season. Here is what the MLB said in a statement:
“During this year’s Spring Training, Major League Baseball commenced an investigation regarding a potential violation of MLB’s sports betting policies by Umpire Pat Hoberg. Mr. Hoberg was removed from the field during the pendency of that investigation,” the league said in its statement. “While MLB’s investigation did not find any evidence that games worked by Mr. Hoberg were compromised or manipulated in any way, MLB determined that discipline was warranted. Mr. Hoberg has chosen to appeal that determination. Therefore, we cannot comment further until the appeal process is concluded.”
Hoberg made the statement that he did not bet on baseball. If he were found to have bet on baseball, he would have violated MLB’s Rule 21. The 37-year-old umpire is best known for his perfect performance in Game 2 of the 2022 World Series. During that game, he called all 129 balls and strikes correctly. He is widely regarded as the best ball-strike umpire in MLB.
Tim Donaghy is the last known American Professional Sports official to bet on games. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2007 after he pled guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce.
There was also the whole thing with Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara earlier this season. Rob Manfred has been strict on the violation of gambling rules over the last few years.
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