MLB Fires Umpire Pat Hoberg for Sharing Sports Betting Account with Poker Player

Edward Scimia

Updated by Edward Scimia

Journalist

Last Updated 5th Feb 2025, 02:41 AM

MLB Fires Umpire Pat Hoberg for Sharing Sports Betting Account with Poker Player

Umpire Pat Hoberg didn't bet on baseball, but knew he was still violating gambling rules established by his employer. (Image: Kirby Lee / Alamy)

Major League Baseball officially fired umpire Pat Hoberg on Monday after an investigation revealed that he had shared a legal sports betting account with a friend who is a professional poker player.

MLB said that Hoberg had also intentionally deleted messages related to the investigation, which contributed to the decision to fire him. 

MLB: No Evidence of Game Manipulation

In a statement, MLB said that it had no evidence that Hoberg had manipulated any games, and sportsbook data didn’t show that any bets on the baseball came from his own sportsbook accounts. However, the poker player did make bets on baseball via the shared account, including eight wagers on five games in which Hoberg worked as an umpire or replay official. MLB officials outlined all five games; in each case, Hoberg either had no significant calls to make or performed to a high standard.

The two individuals allegedly shared two accounts on different sportsbooks, which made bets totaling more than $700,000. In its press release, MLB said that most bets – including all those made on Hoberg’s own devices – were on other sports such as basketball, golf, hockey, and football.

The decision to fire Hoberg came after Hoberg appealed an initial decision last May to terminate his employment. However, while that process included the hiring of a “neutral factfinder,” the final decision laid in the hands of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who upheld the ruling. 

“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,” Manfred said in a statement. “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.”

Hoberg also released a statement accepting his discipline. 

“I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today’s statement,” Hoberg wrote. “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.”

Hoberg, Poker Player Became Friends Following Tournament Meeting

The professional poker player who made the bets on baseball was not named in the MLB press release, which only referred to them as Individual A. With no real details provided, it isn’t possible to identify Individual A at this time. 

However, the statement did provide some information on how Hoberg came to know the poker player. Hoberg and Individual A reportedly met at a poker tournament in 2014, then became friends. Hoberg made bets on sports indirectly through Individual A’s accounts in either 2015 or 2016, and the two shared an account in Iowa after sports betting became legal in the state in 2019. 

According to The Hendon Mob database, which tracks poker tournament winnings, there’s a Patrick John Hoberg from Urbandale, Iowa, where Hoberg the umpire went to high school, with 20 in-the-money finishes. 

He ranks 183rd all-time in winnings for individuals from Iowa, having earned $36,563 in live tournament earnings. Hoberg’s largest win came in 2014, when he won a $250 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament at a Heartland Poker Tour event in Altoona, Pennsylvania, for $9,561. 

As an umpire, Hoberg was praised by fans and pundits for the accuracy of his calls behind the plate. In Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, Hoberg called what has been deemed a “perfect game,” calling 129 pitches correctly as balls and strikes based on pitch tracking analysis.

Hoberg can apply for reinstatement as an MLB umpire beginning in spring training prior to the 2026 MLB season.

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Edward Scimia
Edward Scimia
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Ed Scimia is a freelance writer who has been covering the gaming industry since 2008. He graduated from Syracuse University in 2003 with degrees in Magazine Journalism and Political Science. In his time as a freelancer, Ed has worked for About.com, Gambling.com, and Covers.com, among other sites. He has also authored multiple books and enjoys curling competitively, which has led to him creating curling-related content for his YouTube channel "Chess on Ice."

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