After 49 Years, the New York Yankees Will No Longer Police Their Players’ Faces
GQ SportsYour favorite Bronx Bomber is now free to grow a “well-groomed beard.”By Matthew RobersonFebruary 21, 2025Getty Images; Michael Houtz.Save this storySaveSave this storySaveThey said it would never happen. They said hell would freeze over first. They said things like “tradition” and “respect” and “honor” for decades. But now, February 21, 2025 will go down in the history books. Forevermore, it will be remembered as the day that the New York Yankees no longer had to shave.X contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.The reversal of a 49-year-old grooming rule is the exact type of thing that spring training is meant for, when the games don’t count and the players are still getting in game shape. This season, that on-field form can include a well-groomed beard, something the Yankees’ uniformed personnel—players, coaches, bat and ball handlers—have been forbidden from having since 1976. The policy was introduced that year by George Steinbrenner, the notoriously fastidious owner of the club, who passed away in 2010. His son, Hal, is now the managing partner of the team, and the one who issued Friday’s statement about this being “the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”If that sounds wildly self-important and corporatized beyond belief, well, welcome to New York Yankees baseball! The Yanks were the only team with any sort of rule about beards, which led to some jarring facial transformations when previously hairy men were added to the roster. Consider the radical before-and-after shots of players like Johnny Damon and Lance Lynn.Jed Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesG. N. Lowrance/Getty ImagesHannah Foslien/Getty ImagesMike Stobe/Getty ImagesMost people in and around the game agreed that banning beards was antiquated—you’ll notice that, in his statement, Steinbrenner mentioned consulting with players from multiple eras before making this momentous decision—but few thought anything would actually change. After spending the first seven years of his MLB career with the Yankees, infielder Gleyber Torres signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers this winter and immediately sprouted a full beard. When informed that his former employer switched up their stance, Torres couldn’t believe it.X contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.The curious part about this is the timing. The Yankees waiting until after players reported to spring training has to be a bit maddening for guys like Devin Williams, the newly acquired relief pitcher who recently chopped his beard off only to be hit with the switcheroo.X contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.Under the old policy, players were allowed to have a mustache, but beards and long hair were a no-no. Yankee legend Don Mattingly was once fined and suspended for refusing to get a haircut in 1991, and this offseason, Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Luis Castillo (who was rumored to be a Yankee trade target) joked about not wanting to cut his dreadlocks if he wound up in the Bronx. It’s unclear if the Yankees’ front office will allow locs, mullets, or ponytails now, but at least one player is thrilled about no longer having to diligently trim their facial hair.X contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.The main reason for the change, per Steinbrenner, is twofold. One is a desire to get with the times. “This generation, the vast majority of [men in their] 20s, 30s into the 40s, in this country have beards,” Steinbrenner said. “It is part of who these younger men are, it’s part of their character, it’s part of their persona.”The other is not wanting it to cost them a chance at premier bearded players. “If I ever found out that a player we wanted to acquire, to make us better, to get us a championship, did not want to be here, and if he had the ability to, would not come here because of that policy, as important as it is to that generation, that would be very, very concerning,” Steinbrenner admitted. (Astute baseball fans have pointed out that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Luis Arráez, two All-Stars whose looks would not have flown under the old guidelines, are both free agents after this season.)As winter thaws into spring and flora starts to bloom, so too, finally, will the Yankees’ beards. Some of them—notably, Aaron Judge—have experimented during offseasons of yore, but now the floodgates are open. The defending American League champions still aren’t on the same level as the Dodgers, at least on paper, but maybe their guys rocking some manicured facial flow can at least help the Yankees get their aura back.
They said it would never happen. They said hell would freeze over first. They said things like “tradition” and “respect” and “honor” for decades. But now, February 21, 2025 will go down in the history books. Forevermore, it will be remembered as the day that the New York Yankees no longer had to shave.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The reversal of a 49-year-old grooming rule is the exact type of thing that spring training is meant for, when the games don’t count and the players are still getting in game shape. This season, that on-field form can include a well-groomed beard, something the Yankees’ uniformed personnel—players, coaches, bat and ball handlers—have been forbidden from having since 1976. The policy was introduced that year by George Steinbrenner, the notoriously fastidious owner of the club, who passed away in 2010. His son, Hal, is now the managing partner of the team, and the one who issued Friday’s statement about this being “the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
If that sounds wildly self-important and corporatized beyond belief, well, welcome to New York Yankees baseball! The Yanks were the only team with any sort of rule about beards, which led to some jarring facial transformations when previously hairy men were added to the roster. Consider the radical before-and-after shots of players like Johnny Damon and Lance Lynn.
Most people in and around the game agreed that banning beards was antiquated—you’ll notice that, in his statement, Steinbrenner mentioned consulting with players from multiple eras before making this momentous decision—but few thought anything would actually change. After spending the first seven years of his MLB career with the Yankees, infielder Gleyber Torres signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers this winter and immediately sprouted a full beard. When informed that his former employer switched up their stance, Torres couldn’t believe it.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The curious part about this is the timing. The Yankees waiting until after players reported to spring training has to be a bit maddening for guys like Devin Williams, the newly acquired relief pitcher who recently chopped his beard off only to be hit with the switcheroo.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Under the old policy, players were allowed to have a mustache, but beards and long hair were a no-no. Yankee legend Don Mattingly was once fined and suspended for refusing to get a haircut in 1991, and this offseason, Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Luis Castillo (who was rumored to be a Yankee trade target) joked about not wanting to cut his dreadlocks if he wound up in the Bronx. It’s unclear if the Yankees’ front office will allow locs, mullets, or ponytails now, but at least one player is thrilled about no longer having to diligently trim their facial hair.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The main reason for the change, per Steinbrenner, is twofold. One is a desire to get with the times. “This generation, the vast majority of [men in their] 20s, 30s into the 40s, in this country have beards,” Steinbrenner said. “It is part of who these younger men are, it’s part of their character, it’s part of their persona.”
The other is not wanting it to cost them a chance at premier bearded players. “If I ever found out that a player we wanted to acquire, to make us better, to get us a championship, did not want to be here, and if he had the ability to, would not come here because of that policy, as important as it is to that generation, that would be very, very concerning,” Steinbrenner admitted. (Astute baseball fans have pointed out that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Luis Arráez, two All-Stars whose looks would not have flown under the old guidelines, are both free agents after this season.)
As winter thaws into spring and flora starts to bloom, so too, finally, will the Yankees’ beards. Some of them—notably, Aaron Judge—have experimented during offseasons of yore, but now the floodgates are open. The defending American League champions still aren’t on the same level as the Dodgers, at least on paper, but maybe their guys rocking some manicured facial flow can at least help the Yankees get their aura back.
