Yankees Amend Facial Hair Policy to Allow ‘Well-Groomed Beards’ – SportsLogos.Net News

It may not directly affect uniforms, but news out of the New York Yankees’ camp on Friday will significantly affect how players look on the field.

The Yankees posted a statement from managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner to social media on Friday, February 21, saying that the team would be altering its long-standing facial hair policy to allow players to have “well-groomed beards” going forward.

In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback. These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. UItimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.

— Statement from Hal Steinbrenner

The policy change also means that newly acquired Yankees will not be required to shave existing facial hair upon arriving at the club.

According to @MLBONFOX on Twitter, Yankees senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman told players there weren’t set parameters on what “well-groomed” would mean, but they didn’t want them looking like people on the TV show Duck Dynasty.

According to an article on MLB.com, the facial hair policy stemmed from Opening Day in 1973, just months after Hal Steinbrenner’s father, George Steinbrenner, had bought the Yankees. He didn’t yet know his team’s players by name, but as George watched his team line up on the first-base line, he did notice their “unkempt mustaches, mutton chops and shaggy locks. He scowled, scribbling uniform numbers on a scrap of paper urgently dispatched to manager Ralph Houk. Tell these men to get a haircut, Steinbrenner commanded.”

All players, coaches and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches [except for religious reasons], and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar. Long sideburns and mutton chops are not specifically banned.

— New York Yankees player manual

Some players rebelled against the policy in subsequent years — most notably Thurman Munson and Goose Gossage — but most abided by it.

No word yet if the policy change will extend to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Softball Team, owned and managed by C. Montgomery Burns.