About Spring Training: A Close Shave

About Spring Training: A Close Shave

By Tim Kabel

February 22, 2025

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Yesterday, Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman made an announcement that the Yankees are modifying their policy regarding facial hair. For 49 years, no Yankees’ player could wear a beard. Mustaches were allowed but, they could not creep past the upper lip. The new rule permits neat, well-trimmed beards. I suppose that's open to interpretation but anyone who looks like the Smith brothers of cough drop fame will be frowned upon. Grizzly Adams will not be playing third base for the Yankees. Is this a big deal? Is it something that we should be lathered up over? Well, it is noteworthy.

George Steinbrenner originally implemented the policy after observing several of his players with long, unruly hair and facial hair. It remained in effect ever since. There were many instances when players would leave the Yankees and immediately grow a long, shaggy beard when they went to another team. Sometimes, it seemed as if they had small birds and animals living in their beards because they were so long. Remember when Rougned Odor came to the Yankees? His beard was thicker than any sweater I've ever seen. After he shaved, he appeared to be twelve years old. If he were to play for the Yankees now, he would have to trim his beard, but he could keep it. All of this make me scratch my head, or my beard, or both.

Every other team in the Major Leagues allows beards. Some of them allow very long hair as well. Remember when Johnny Damon played for the Red Sox and looked as if he had been stranded on a deserted island for six years? His weight dropped fifteen pounds when he came to the Yankees because he shaved his beard off and cut his hair. The question is, why did the Yankees modify their policy, and why did they do it now? I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I'm not talking about simple day-to-day occurrences like spilling milk or things like that but if a team changes a policy that has been in effect for 49 years and that sets it apart from all the other teams, there must be a reason. Apparently, this is something Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman thought about a great deal. They talked to numerous current and former players about this. I think it says a lot about the excitement level of their lives that they could devote that much time to having discussions about beards but, that's another topic for another day.

Why the change? Why remove the rule about removing facial hair? Well, Hal Steinbrenner said that he would hate to have that policy prevent the Yankees from acquiring a player they felt would be important to the future of the team. Let that sit there for a minute, like a hot towel on your face. Hal stated that many men in the twenty to forty age range wear beards. He's right about that. There are many men (and a few women, I suppose) who have beards these days. There are many men who are older who have beards. It is much more common and socially acceptable nowadays. The same holds true with tattoos. There was a time when the only people who had tattoos were sailors or inmates. Now, many people have tattoos, including men and women and people in all professions. It is a new world. Heck, the vice president has a beard. There was a time in our history when it was very common for the president of the United States to have a beard. However, the last president to have facial hair was William Howard Taft. That was more than a hundred years ago. 

So, the Yankees’ policy against facial hair was outdated but, I don't think that's why the policy changed now. Hal Steinbrenner stated that he would hate to have the policy regarding facial hair be the reason the Yankees did not acquire a player who could truly help the franchise win. Well, are there any potential free agents or trade acquisitions who have a beard? If you answered Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., you just won a free shave. It is interesting that since Vladi announced that he was going to become a free agent and would no longer negotiate with the Blue Jays, he liked a blog on social media referencing the possibility of him becoming the Yankee and the Yankees modified a 49-year-old policy that would directly affect him. That certainly doesn't guarantee that Vladi will become a Yankee, but it is interesting and I think it's more than coincidental.

There could be some interesting developments as a result of this policy modification. Now that the Yankees have loosened their rules, I may take my beard to Florida and become the third baseman. Of course, I'm 60 with the mobility of a boulder but, I'm up against DJ LeMahieu.

Aaron Boone may announce that he will refuse to shave until he leads the Yankees to a World Series victory. That will certainly test the limits of neat and well-trimmed, as he would resemble Rip Van Winkle by the time that ever happens. My friend Roger, who frowns on facial hair and tattoos (he believes if he can't have any hair on his head, no one should have any on their face) will not be happy. He hates tattoos and beards so much that he once started a petition to have Herve Villechaize banned from television and he refuses to use any recipe written by James Beard. However, on the bright side, Suzyn Waldman will now begin hawking beard-care products during her broadcasts. The bottom of the third inning will be sponsored by the official beard oil of the New York Yankees.

If this new policy causes less turmoil over something that's really not important end allows the Yankees to acquire players who would prefer to wear beards, that could be a very good thing. If at this time next year, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is a Yankee and is wearing a beard, it will be an even better thing. By the way, poor Devin Williams had to shave his beard off a week ago but now he can grow it back. There's a new breeze blowing and it's making beards flutter everywhere, including the Yankees’ dugout.