Anthony Volpe #11, Jasson Domínguez #24 and Paul Goldschmidt #48 of the New York Yankees speak throughout spring coaching at George M. Steinbrenner Area on Feb. 19, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.
New York Yankees | Getty Pictures
Begin spreading the information: For the primary time in practically 50 years, the New York Yankees are permitting gamers to develop beards.
In a assertion Friday, Yankees proprietor Hal Steinbrenner mentioned he spoke to former and present gamers in regards to the long-standing coverage stopping most facial hair and has determined the crew will now allow “well-groomed beards.”
“These most up-to-date conversations are an extension of ongoing inside dialogue that dates again a number of years,” Steinbrenner wrote. “It’s the applicable time to maneuver past the acquainted consolation of our former coverage.”
The information comes days after pitcher Devin Williams, whom the Yankees acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers through the offseason, sported some forbidden facial hair in an official crew photograph. Williams beforehand maintained a beard throughout his time with the Brewers.
The Yankees’ facial hair coverage was first applied by George Steinbrenner, the previous Yankees proprietor and father of Hal Steinbrenner, within the Seventies. The coverage banned any facial hair aside from mustaches, with exceptions for spiritual causes, and scalp hair under the collar for gamers, coaches and male executives.
George Steinbrenner, who died in 2010, justified the rule as a means of instilling self-discipline within the crew, reportedly telling The New York Instances in 1978 that he needed to “to develop delight within the gamers as Yankees.”
Since then, all gamers have abided by the coverage, although not with out some resistance. Famously, Yankees captain Don Mattingly was benched in 1991 for refusing to get a haircut, an incident mocked on a 1992 episode of “The Simpsons.” Former Yankee Andrew McCutchen mentioned in 2020 that it will have been tough for him to hitch the crew when he nonetheless had dreadlocks, which he wore through the early years of his profession with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and referred to as on the franchise to alter the rule.
The custom has additionally turned some potential Yankees away. Common supervisor Brian Cashman mentioned in 2013 that he dominated out buying and selling for aid pitcher Brian Wilson as a result of Wilson refused to shave his beard. Pitcher David Value mentioned in 2013 that he didn’t need to play for the Yankees as a result of coverage.
Many previous and current gamers removed their beards once they joined the Yankees from one other crew, together with Gerrit Cole, Johnny Damon and present offseason acquisitions Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger.
