The Yankees are no longer cutting it: after half a century, the green light is given to beards and long hair

What a beard! Boredom? No, literally, facial hair. Goodbye razors, no foam. The people at Gillette may not have taken it well, but the New York Yankees players certainly celebrated. After more than half a century in fact, the most successful franchise (27 titles) in the history of the Major Leagues has put an end to one of the most antiquated and anachronistic rules that has distinguished it since 1973, the one that prohibited its members from growing beards or wearing long hair. Mustaches were allowed, however, like the famous "handlebar" ones by Goose Gossage

“Over the past few weeks, I have spoken with a number of current and former Yankees — from a variety of eras — to hear their perspectives on our longstanding policy on facial hair and grooming, and I appreciate their candid and varied feedback,” said Yankees owner Hal Steibrenner. “These most recent conversations are an extension of an ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately, the final decision rests with me, and after careful consideration, we will amend our rules to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards. It is an appropriate time to move beyond our previous policy.”

It was his father, the legendary Boss, George Steinbrenner, who, when he bought the franchise in 1973, watched his team line up along the first-base line for Opening Day against Cleveland. Steinbrenner wasn’t “The Boss” yet, so new to the role that he couldn’t identify players by their faces. Instead, he focused on their hair: shaggy mustaches and locks, unkempt beards. He frowned, scrawling uniform numbers on a piece of paper he rushed to manager Ralph Houk. “Tell these guys to get a haircut,” Steinbrenner ordered. From then on, if you wore a Pinstripers jersey, you had to have a “clean” face.

The choice was heavily influenced by Steinbrenner’s military background, having attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana and served as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. “I have nothing against long hair per se,” he told The New York Times in 1978, “but I’m trying to instill some sense of order and discipline in the club, because I think discipline is important in an athlete.”

One factor, which Hal Steinbrenner acknowledged was “hypothetical in nature,” is that the Yankees fear they could lose a future free agent because of the policy. Manager Aaron Boone said, “We never want to lose a player. If we lost one player because of this rule, that would be one too many.”