The top professional baseball league, MLB, has revealed that an official, Pat Hoberg, has been penalized for violating the league’s regulations regarding sports wagering. Hoberg has voiced his disagreement with the ruling.
The specifics of Hoberg’s actions remain unclear, but he has not participated in any matches this season. MLB issued a statement indicating that Hoberg did not attempt to influence the results of any games, but they did not explicitly confirm that he refrained from placing bets on baseball.
MLB regulations stipulate that individuals who wager on baseball face a one-year suspension. If a person bets on a game they are involved in, such as coaching or officiating, they can be permanently banned.
Hoberg is actively seeking to overturn the decision.
MLB stated in a press release that they initiated an investigation into Hoberg during spring training due to suspicions of rule violations regarding sports betting. They removed him from active duty while conducting their inquiry.
MLB asserted that they found no evidence of Hoberg attempting to manipulate the outcomes of any games he officiated, but they opted to impose a penalty nonetheless. They provided no further details.
Hoberg joined the ranks of MLB umpires in 2014 and transitioned to a full-time role in 2017. He was selected to officiate in the postseason every year from 2018 to 2022.
Based on the analysis of UmpScorecards.com’s accuracy specialists, Hoberg achieved a flawless performance in the second game of the 2022 World Series. He accurately called every single one of the 129 pitches. [Game 2 performance](https://x.com/UmpScorecards/status/1586735374985854976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1586735374985854976%7Ctwgr%5Ea0b259bd47111b58a12807fbd58ec9acac9ceeab%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%Fftw.usatoday.com%2Flists%2Fumpire-pat-hoberg-perfect-game-world-series-game-2-reaction-astros-phillies-fans)
If the penalty against Hoberg is upheld, he will be the first MLB umpire to face consequences for wagering since the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018. This marks the first instance of an umpire being penalized for gambling since the repeal of PASPA.
There has not been a significant gambling controversy in major professional leagues in the United States since 2008. At that time, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison for wire fraud and conspiring to transmit betting information.
Donaghy was discovered to have placed bets on NBA games over a four-year period and shared confidential information with gamblers. At the time, sports betting was prohibited at the federal level, with only Nevada being the exception.
The recent announcement adds to a series of gambling scandals that MLB is currently grappling with. The league continues to face challenges related to gambling controversies.
Nine days ago, the league permanently banned former Padres infielder Tucapita Marcano and suspended four other players.
In the year 2021, while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Marcano engaged in wagering on Pirates contests. He was the initial player to receive a lifetime ban for gambling since the 1989 case of Pete Rose.
Apart from Marcano, four additional athletes faced suspensions for wagering on baseball matches: Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly and minor league players Andrew Salfrank, Jay Groom, and Jose Rodriguez. Kelly’s suspension spanned a year.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for two-time Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani, confessed on June 4th to misappropriating $17 million from Ohtani to settle gambling obligations. Mizuhara incurred substantial losses, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, through illicit bookmakers. He is presently awaiting his sentence.
David Fletcher, Ohtani’s former teammate on the Los Angeles Angels, is also subject to an inquiry concerning gambling. Fletcher, currently a Triple-A player for the Atlanta Braves, is alleged to have placed bets through the same illicit bookmaker as Mizuhara.
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