Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams had to shave. Like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
But now Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and the rest of the current New York Yankees cast will be able to grow “well-cared for” beards if they wish, after the club announced on Friday (21) a change in its long-standing policy on Friday (21) .
The release to the beards was announced by Hal Steinbrenner, the general managing partner of the team, whose father began the ban on beards-and applied it vigorously for years.
“After great consideration, we will be changing our expectations to allow our uniformed players and personnel to have well -cared for beards from now on,” Steinbrenner said in a statement on Friday. “It is the appropriate time to go beyond the family comfort of our old politics.”
Since the 1970s, Yankees have banned their players, as well as team members, to have beards or long hair. George Steinbrenner, Hal Steinbrenner’s father and owner at the time, believed that a cleaner look would promote professionalism and discipline among his players.
“I’m trying to instill a certain sense of order and discipline in the team, because I think the discipline is important in an athlete,” he said in 1976.
Hal Steinbrenner said in an interview with journalists on Friday that players would still be required to “look well cared for and clean.”
“It is important to our team leaders that we maintain this disciplined appearance,” he said.
Asked what his father would have said about the change, Hal Steinbrenner said he believed the chance of some star players reluctant to come to Yankees because of the ban on beard could have influenced him.
“He could be more inclined to make the change I made than people think. Winning was the most important thing to my father,” he said.
While some other major sports teams in North America have policies about clothing or appearance, Yankees’s beard policy was among the most rigorous, and certainly the best known. This notoriety was expanded by the Yankees success story – they won 27 World Series titles, 16 more than any other team – and the apparent arrogance it brought, at least as perceived by many of their rivals.
Hal Steinbrenner said in the statement that he consulted “a large number of ex and current Yankees, covering several ages,” before changing politics.
The policy occasionally annoyed team members. In one of the most famous incidents, Don Mattingly, the best player and captain of the team in 1991, was removed from the lineup and fined because he refused to cut his hair.
“I’m impressed with the petty thing,” Mattingly told reporters at the time. He gave in soon after and made a cut.
The incident was parodied in a 1992 episode of “The Simpsons”. In the show, Mattingly joined a team owned by the character Mr. Burns, who made irrational requirements for Mattingly’s appearance and then expelled him from the team. Mattingly, who dubbed her own character, went out saying, “I still like it more than Steinbrenner.”
Not every player had problems with the ban on the beard. “The new policy would not have affected me, as I have been trying to grow a beard without success for 30 years,” said Alex Rodriguez, who spent 12 seasons with the Yankees, in a text message on Friday from the Training Field of team, where he is an invited instructor.
But in recent years, there has been a growing speculation that politics has been harming the chances of yankees to purchase quality players.
“You would be surprised at how much the Yankees would be more attractive if they got rid of this facial hair rule,” said Cameron Maybin, a former Yankee in 2023. “You wouldn’t believe how many quality players just think it’s a silly rule to have. “
Yankees policy formally stated: “All players, coaches and male executives are prohibited from displaying any facial as well as mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair cannot grow below collar.”
“Hair policy will remain the same,” said Hal Steinbrenner.
Over the decades, politics has led to embarrassing conversations in which Yankees managers had to urge their often well paid players to shave or cut their hair. Some disagreed with the rule, but George Steinbrenner’s word was law.
Politics also led to often drastic transformations to bearded players who joined the Yankees from other teams. Among those who scraped facial hair upon arriving on Yankees were Gerrit Cole in 2019, Nick Swisher in 2009 and Johnny Damon in 2006. Many other players let the beards grow again as soon as they were changed from the team.
In 1981, the Yankees Goose Gossage throwing decided to make his (allowed) mustache grow more, as a way to challenge the ban. The result was a Fu Manchu style mustache that became its trademark.
Until a few days ago, politics was in the news. Devin Williams, who joined the Yankees this season, had shaved his longtime beard, but she began to grow again and could be seen in her official team photo, causing a small excitement.
Friday’s announcement ends, or at least modifies, a policy that has affected so many generations of players who developed their own folklore.
In a frequently repeated story, a Yankees player Lou Piniella contested the decree, pointing out that Jesus had long hair and beard.
George Steinbrenner replied, “Walk over that lake, and you can have a long beard and hair.”
