Umpire Pat Hoberg facing potential discipline over gambling allegation

“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,” MLB said in a statement.

“Mr. Hoberg was removed from the field during the pendency of that investigation. 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.”

Whenever that process is concluded, the key phrase in the summation of allegations and discipline will almost certainly be the one suggesting that no “games worked by Mr. Hoberg were compromised or manipulated in any way.”

MLB used similar words last week when it announced discipline against five major and minor league players who bet on baseball. One of those players, 24-year-old Tucupita Marcano, was banned for life. It used similar words when it discussed allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who was mired in a sports gambling scandal and pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges earlier this month.

Federal documents indicated Mizuhara kept his betting to other sports, but as gambling scandals mount, the priority remains the same: MLB does not want anyone to worry about the integrity of its competition, even as evidence that players, officials and team employees are vulnerable to gambling temptations mounts.

Hoberg, known for getting every single ball and strike call correct in a 2022 World Series game, has yet to umpire a game this year as MLB’s investigation progressed. The 37-year-old has been a full-time MLB umpire since 2017.

“I look forward to the appeal process, and I am grateful that the Major League Baseball Umpires Association is supporting me in the appeal,” Hoberg, who could not be reached for comment late Friday, told the Athletic.

That officials are joining players and clubhouse staff in near-weekly gambling scandals illustrates the danger the league is facing in an era when betting on sports has never been easier.

Allegations against Mizuhara opened the floodgates in March, as the closest confidant of the game’s brightest star was accused of siphoning millions from Ohtani to pay massive sports gambling debts — none of which, the league and federal officials agreed, were accumulated betting on baseball.

Cracks continued to widen last week when MLB announced a lifetime ban for Marcano, a San Diego Padres infielder who bet on the Pittsburgh Pirates while injured as a member of their major league roster. Four other players received year-long bans for betting on their major league teams while in the minors.

But officials represented an as-yet unsullied group. Not since NBA referee Tim Donaghy was fired in 2007 for allegedly manipulating point spreads has an official in the major North American sports come under such scrutiny.

MLB umpires are subject to the same rules as big league players: If someone gambles on “any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform,” they are subject to a lifetime ban from baseball. Until earlier this month, the most memorable violators included the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” and baseball’s all-time hit leader, Pete Rose.

Exactly what Hoberg is accused of doing remains unclear, and it is worth noting that none of the players upon whom MLB levied discipline last week chose to appeal their suspensions, like Hoberg has. Still, the specter of gambling is only growing, and despite its best efforts to downplay it, MLB is sitting firmly in its shadow.