In a crazy twist of events in American baseball, umpire Pat Hoberg was dismissed by the Major League Baseball (MLB) authorities. They dismissed Hoberg following an investigation of his involvement in sports betting. (More Sports News)
Why was Pat Hoberg Sacked?
An investigation into Pat Hoberg revealed that the latter shared legal sports betting accounts with a friend, who was a professional poker player, and placed bets on baseball games.
Although there was not evidence of Hoberg personally bet on the MLB games or manipulated the games' outcomes, he did delete electronic messages that was related to the investigation. The MLB authorities found these actions as failures to uphold the game's integrity and exercised poor judgement.
MLB said the friend made 141 baseball bets between April 2, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2023, totaling almost $214,000 with an overall win of nearly $35,000.
“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball라이브 바카라 rules governing sports betting conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” 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. Hoberg라이브 바카라 termination for failing to conform to high standards of personal conduct and to maintain the integrity of the game of baseball.”
Now 38, Hoberg became a professional umpire in 2009, made his big league debut as a call-up on March 31, 2014, and joined the major league staff ahead of the 2017 season.
During Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, he had an unprecedented “umpire라이브 바카라 perfect game” by accurately calling balls and strikes on all 129 taken pitches, according to Umpire Scorecards.
“I take full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today라이브 바카라 statement,” Hoberg said in a statement. “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.
“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. I vow to learn from them and to be a better version of myself moving forward.”
Hoberg was notified of his termination on May 31 for violating Article 9 (A) of the umpires’ collective bargaining agreement, which states the umpire must “conform to high standards of personal conduct; and maintain the integrity of the international game of baseball.”
Under the labor contract, Hoberg had the right to appeal Hill라이브 바카라 decision, triggering the hiring by MLB of a neutral fact finder who made a report to Manfred.
(With AP inputs)
