The top baseball body, Major League Baseball, has concluded its investigation into umpire Pat Hoberg, terminating his contract on account of his relationship with a well-known gambler. On Monday, Hoberg’s appeal was turned down, marking a definite end to his stint with the MLB. Notably, the investigation found no suggestion that Hoberg participated in betting on baseball matches or influenced the outcomes of any games he umpired during his professional tenure.
Even though Hoberg went against the MLB’s regulations concerning gambling, baseball officials were eager to differentiate Hoberg’s infractions from the scandal involving ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy. Unlike Donaghy, who had gone to jail for gambling on games he refereed, no evidence suggested such behavior from Hoberg.
According to the information revealed by the investigation, a close friend of Hoberg, a professional poker player, made 141 bets on baseball games. Interestingly, Hoberg’s residence was used for placing at least 19 of these bets.
In the 2021 MLB season, eight wagers were made on five games where Hoberg had served either as an umpire or a replay review official. Despite this, the MLB investigative body could not discover any misconduct in those specific games.
Among the games scrutinized, Hoberg presided over an outing between the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds as the umpire controlling third base. His performance was commendable, making three on-point calls according to the MLB’s evaluation metrics.
On that game, Hoberg’s confidant placed two bets favoring the Reds. However, the outcome defied his projections, and the Giants triumphed with a 7-6 final score, marking a loss for the gambler.
In a different game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets, Hoberg held the position of lead replay official. Interestingly, the match went on without any replay assessment getting called. Meanwhile, the poker player put his stakes on the Cubs, reaping gains as a result.
Another encounter pitted the Los Angeles Dodgers against the New York Mets with Hoberg posted as the home plate umpire. His performance, as gauged by the MLB’s evaluation system, was near perfect, missing only a couple of pitches and earning a remarkable 98.89% rating.
Both pitches missed by Hoberg during this game were in situations deemed as ‘low-leverage’. They ended up favoring the Dodgers, while of the remaining six calls that fell into the buffer zone, four impacted the Dodgers negatively and two went against the Mets. Hoberg’s gambler friend had his chips on the Dodgers, a bet that he ended up winning.
Hoberg was also part of a playoff game in the National League Division Series (NLDS) between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. He was assigned as the third base umpire again, but the game had no particularly close calls to register on the MLB evaluation system. Despite this, his friend, expecting a high-scoring game, placed two bets – on the Giants and the over-under, successfully predicting the Giants’ 4-0 win over the Dodgers.
In the World Series Game 4 featuring the Houston Astros versus the Atlanta Braves, Hoberg was appointed as the lead replay official. The game had only one instance that required replay review. The Astros protested a decision at second base, but after a thorough review, Hoberg maintained the original call which was subsequently endorsed by the replay center.
Despite this affirmation, Hoberg’s friend’s luck ran out as he lost both of his bets on the Astros when the Braves eked out a 3-2 victory.
MLB went to great lengths to analyze all baseball wagers placed from the accounts in question alongside corresponding game data, hoping to identify any discernible patterns suggestive of integrity breaches.
Findings revealed no specific focus on any particular team, pitcher, or umpire during the course of this betting activity, nor was there a consistent relationship between the size of the bets and their success. The bets placed on games featuring Hoberg as an official also did not display any clear pattern.
In summary, even though the account operations turned out to be profitable, there was no substantial evidence indicating that these betting activities had any connections with attempts to manipulate or fix the outcome of any baseball matches. Consequently, although Hoberg’s association with an established gambler violated MLB’s gambling policy, there is no evidence to suggest his involvement in illicit betting or match manipulation.