NEW YORK (AFP) — Major League Baseball (MLB) said on Monday it had fired top umpire Pat Hoberg for violating strict league rules concerning gambling.

The league said in a statement a decision to dismiss Hoberg made in May 2024 had been upheld following a lengthy appeals process.

The league emphasized that an investigation found no evidence that Hoberg ever placed bets on baseball or took any action to affect the outcomes of games.

However, the probe found he had shared legal sports betting accounts with a professional poker player and friend who had placed bets on baseball.

The league also found Hoberg had impeded an investigation into his activities by deleting messages between him and his friend with whom he shared betting accounts.

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules governing sports betting conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” MLB commissioner Rob 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.”

Hoberg, 38, first umpired in Major League Baseball in 2014 before being appointed on a full-time basis from 2017.

He umpired in postseason games every year from 2018 to 2022 and also officiated in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Hoberg is widely regarded as one of the best umpires in baseball, and called an umpiring “perfect game” in game 2 of the 2022 World Series when he correctly called all 129 pitches.

In a statement released through the MLB Umpires Association on Monday, Hoberg said he took “full responsibility for the errors in judgement” detailed in the league decision.

“Those errors will always be a source of shame and embarrassment to me,” he said.

“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.”