The New York Yankees, a team long centered around tradition, announced Feb. 21 that they would no longer require players and other uniformed personnel on the team to maintain cleanly shaven faces. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner bluntly announced the policy change after apparently having numerous conversations with former Yankees players and coaches over the past several years. In doing so, Steinbrenner adds to the already historic story of beards and baseball.
Facial hair, especially in today’s game of baseball, has become an integral part of a player’s identity. But when players are asked to comply with a facial hair policy that may go against their individual brand, they sometimes take issue with the system. This has been the case on numerous occasions for the Yankees.
In 2013, for example, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was unable to acquire star relief pitcher Brian Wilson because Wilson refused to shave his signature beard. Nearly a decade later, in 2022, bearded star pitcher David Price told reporters that he did not want to sign with the Yankees due to their appearance policy (though this may have also been because he played for the Boston Red Sox).
The idea of a team culture with uniform, disciplined appearance in athletics does have a strong brand appeal, but the negative impact a rule like this has on a player’s brand is hardly ever worth it. As a result, this rule change can broaden the Yankees’ horizons further. However, that’s not to say that fans or players saw this change coming.
“Everyone was kind of stunned,” newly-acquired Yankees closer Devin Williams, who had recently shaved his beard when he left the Milwaukee Brewers for the Yankees, said to reporters. “There were a few guys who had heard it was being discussed and a possibility, but that it actually happened — I’m just looking forward to it growing back.”
The original policy was officially created back in 1976, three years into George Steinbrenner’s (who is Hal Steinbrenner’s father) ownership of the Yankees. The senior Steinbrenner, who had previously served in the United States Air Force and knew all about strict grooming standards, first thought of implementing a facial hair policy after the Yankees’ Opening Day game against Cleveland in 1973.
As players removed their hats for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” displaying shaggy hair and subsequently losing the game 3-1, Steinbrenner, who did not yet know the names of the players whose hair he considered unacceptable, wrote down their jersey numbers for manager Ralph Houk to reprimand after the game. Houk approached Bobby Murcer, Thurman Munson, Sparky Lyle and a few others and told them to clean up both their hair and their act.
Three years later, in 1976, the terms of the Yankees’ appearance policy were codified in the “Neatness Counts” policy, which specified that there could be no beards, mutton chops, long hair or stirrups on the team. Steinbrenner argued in The New York Times in 1978 that the policy was not specifically about a distaste for long hair but about instilling order and discipline, which he believed was important for athletes to maintain.
Facial hair, while fairly common in the early era of Major League Baseball, had fallen out of fashion in the early 20th century, and instances of players growing beards and or mustaches became a rarity. This changed in 1972, however, when Reggie Jackson — at the time a star player for the Oakland Athletics — began growing a mustache. Charlie Finley, the A’s owner at the time, encouraged four of his players to grow their own facial hair in the hopes that Mr. October would voluntarily shave, an interesting use of reverse psychology.
As more A’s players grew facial hair, Finley began to actually like the mustaches and the 1972 Oakland Athletics were soon nicknamed “The Mustache Gang.” The 1972 World Series, in which the Athletics faced the clean-cut Cincinnati Reds (the team that inspired Steinbrenner to create the “Neatness Counts” policy), was deemed a match between “the Hairs” and “the Squares.” The A’s went on to win the series four games to three.
The peak of conflict between Yankees ownership and facial hair occurred in 1991 when Don Mattingly (an MVP with six All-Star Game appearances, nine Gold Glove awards and three Silver Slugger awards) was removed from the starting lineup for refusing to cut his hair. Mattingly returned to the lineup against the White Sox the next day, and told reporters he would likely cut his hair soon.
Though the strictness of the Yankees’ beard policy was perhaps a bit over the top, it still represented a timeless — albeit not most friendly — era of baseball. During one spring training in Fort Lauderdale, Yankees outfielder Lou Piniella challenged the powerful Steinbrenner on his picky dress code, citing that even Jesus had long hair. Steinbrenner responded by pointing at a body of water nearby and telling Piniella that if he could walk on water, he could have any hairstyle he wanted.
Some baseball fans may miss the tradition of the Yankees’ facial hair policy. Others may rejoice for the individuality the players now hold and others may be completely indifferent. In any case, the players themselves will probably care the least about the change, as their eyes are likely set on the beginning of the new baseball season in mid-March and finding out who walked on water for the Yankees to make this change.
