A brief history of beards and baseball after the Yankees lift their no beard policy
New York Yankees players and uniformed staff can now wear “well-groomed beards,” team management announced Friday – changing a longstanding policy that banned beards.
The policy was instituted nearly 50 years ago by then-owner George Steinbrenner. On Friday, Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the team and son of George Steinbrenner, said he made the decision that the policy was outdated after speaking with current and former players.
“This generation you know the vast majority of 20[s], 30s into the 40s men in this country have beards … it is a part of who these younger men are. It’s a part of their character. It’s a part of their persona,” Steinbrenner said, adding that he has never had a beard.
He said there will be “parameters” to the new policy that will be shared later Friday and he told players it’s going to be a “well-groomed clean look.”
The anti-facial hair stance has faced its share of criticism. It was even a deal breaker for some Major League Baseball (MLB) players in whether they joined certain teams.
Here are some things to know about the history of beards in major league baseball.
It started decades ago
Policies prohibiting players from growing beards in the major leagues has been a hairy topic for decades.
The Yankees grooming policy traces back to 1976, when the elder Steinbrenner banned players from wearing long hair, having sideburns and beards. During an interview with The New York Times, he said then that he didn’t have anything against long hair but wanted to instill a “certain sense of order and discipline in the ball club.”
“I like to see a player look neat,” Steinbrenner told the newspaper. “They can joke about it as long as they do it. If they don’t do it, we’ll try to find a way to accommodate them somewhere else.”
The policy was not popular with some players, though some conformed so they could play. Yankees players such as Gerrit Cole and Nick Swisher cut their hair to join the team.
