TAMPA — The Yankees’ antiquated facial hair coverage has been amended.
The shocking choice got here by way of an announcement from Hal Steinbrenner on Friday morning. With the Yankees making ready to play their first sport of spring coaching, the proprietor introduced that gamers can put on “well-groomed beards moving forward.”
Yankees gamers beforehand couldn’t sport facial hair beneath the higher lip. The coverage, carried out by Hal’s father, George, had been in place because the Seventies. It additionally forbids mutton chops and hair previous uniform collars.
“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,” Steinbrenner stated in a press release. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately 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.”
The Yankees’ grooming coverage all the time will get talked about when a former participant joins a brand new workforce and rocks a beard or lengthy hair. Nonetheless, Steinbrenner’s announcement follows renewed consideration on the foundations.
New nearer Devin Williams was lately requested about having to shave the beard he wore in Milwaukee, and his clean-shaven look sparked dialogue on social media. Williams then took workforce images with a noticeable beard earlier this week.
“Everyone’s got an opinion,” the 30-year-old Williams stated of shaving days earlier than the photographs, “so it is what it is.”
Former Yankee CC Sabathia has additionally been carrying a beard at camp. As an lively participant, he took a light-weight beard to the mound within the spring of 2017 after Clint Frazier, a prospect on the time, precipitated a stir along with his lengthy, pink locks.
“The only thing that’s buttoned up about this place is the facial hair rule,” the Corridor of Famer stated. “That’s it.”
That’s now not the case, because the Yankees are buzzing — or at the very least trimming — a rule that has polarized over time.
This can be a creating story.
Initially Revealed: February 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM EST