Major League Baseball said Friday night that it has disciplined umpire Pat Hoberg for violating the league’s gambling rules, and he is being held out of games this season while an appeal is considered. Hoberg is a veteran of baseball and appears to have gotten caught up in some nonsense. MLB stated that it began its “investigation of Hoberg during spring training this year, and he was removed from the field while the probe was ongoing.”
Hoberg began umpiring in the major leagues in 2014 and joined the full-time staff in 2017. He is known for calling a perfect game of balls and strikes in the 2022 World Series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies. He has umpired at least one postseason game every season since 2018.
The commissioner’s office released a carefully worded statement on the matter, saying, “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. … Therefore, we cannot comment further until the appeal process is concluded.”
This scandal coincides with MLB issuing a lifetime ban on San Francisco Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for betting on the sport, making him the first person banned in over a decade. Additionally, MLB suspended four minor league players for a year for betting. Several weeks earlier, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter was arrested for sports betting and for stealing nearly $17 million from him. All of this comes despite Major League Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, which states that betting on any baseball game where a player, umpire, league official, or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game where the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.
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The culture surrounding sports betting suggests it is here to stay. The availability of betting apps and the widespread placement of betting sites in stadiums like Nationals Park mean MLB must update its rules or change the industry. This isn’t the same era of baseball where Chicago White Sox players discreetly strategized to throw the World Series in 1919. Betting is pervasive now.
This is not advocating players to bet on the game. Baseball should remain aboveboard. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment of the necessary wake-up call for baseball. The league must distance itself from the industry if it wants to reduce player betting. The prominent display of signs for betting companies and apps appears to endorse the practice. People are seizing every opportunity to bet. Applying a blanket rule over something so intertwined with baseball, like betting, is misguided. Betting should remain in its own realm, where those interested can seek it out, not displayed on the walls at baseball games.
