For the first time in nearly five decades, New York Yankees players will be allowed to have beards. On Friday,Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner said he is amending the team’s antiquated facial hair policy and will allow “well-groomed beards” moving forward. Under the old policy, no hair below the lip was allowed. Mustaches were OK, beards were not. Now they are.
“Outdated and somewhat unreasonable,” Steinbrenner called the policy on Friday. “… This generation, the vast majority of 20s, 30s, into the 40s men of this country have beards. The Vice President has a beard, members of Congress have beards, the list goes on and on in this country and in this world. It is part of who these younger men are. Part of their character. Part of the persona. Do I totally relate to that? It’s difficult for me. I’m an older guy who’s never had a beard in his life, but it’s a very important thing to them.”
The facial hair policy was put in place by the late George Steinbrenner, Hal’s father, in 1976. Steinbrenner’s military background has frequently been cited as the reason behind it, though it wasn’t a secret the policy was put in place to prevent Yankees’ players and coaches from wearing their hair in the style of the era. That meant no long hair, no afros, no think beards or big mustaches.
Countless players have had to shave upon joining the Yankees since 1976. Some made the decision themselves and joined the Yankees on lucrative free agent contracts. Others joined the team against their will because they were traded to the Yankees or drafted by the Yankees. (The facial hair policy extended all the way down the minors.) All had to shave to adhere to the policy.
With that in mind, here are 10 players who were famously impacted by the Yankees’ hair policy over the last five decades.
1. Oscar Gamble
Perhaps the first “victim” of the facial hair policy, Gamble did not have a uniform in his locker when he reported to spring training in 1976, his first season with the Yankees. He was told he would not be issued a uniform until his trimmed his trademark afro.
“I got there in spring training, I didn’t have a uniform,” Gamble told the Dayton Beach News-Journal in 2016. “[Manager Billy Martin] told me I had to get a haircut before I get a uniform.”
Getty Images
Gamble had an endorsement deal lined up with Afro Sheen, a hair care product, but Steinbrenner reimbursed him for dropping the endorsement to comply with the team’s facial hair policy.
“George said, whatever they were gonna pay you, I’ll pay you. So I got it cut,” Gamble told the Dayton Beach News-Journal. “And I never grew it back. It was just a ’70s thing, that’s all it was.”
2. Thurman Munson
The Yankees named Munson their first captain since Lou Gehrig in 1976. The beloved homegrown catcher was named AL Rookie of the Year in 1970 and he would go on to win AL MVP in 1976. That year, he sported a full beard on his Hostess baseball card:
Steinbrenner put the facial hair policy in place soon thereafter, and that was that. Munson shaved his beard and instead wore a thick mustache the rest of his career.
3. Goose Gossage
The Hall of Fame closer is one of the most notable to rebel against the Yankees’ no beard policy. In 1983, he grew a Fu Machu style mustache that extended just below the lip, and pushed the envelope of the facial hair policy. “I actually grew it to piss Steinbrenner off,” Gossage told TMZ in 2014.
Getty Images
4. Don Mattingly
In 1992, Mattingly recorded lines for the classic The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat,” in which Montgomery Burns brought in several major-league stars to play for is Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team. All those players were unable to play for the team for one reason or another. In Mattingly’s case, it was because his sideburns were too long, a nod to the team’s hair policy.
About a month after recording those lines, Mattingly was benched for one game by manager Stump Merrill because his hair was too long. The hair policy says no hair below the collar. That part remains. Only well-groomed beards are allowed now. Not longer hair.
The Yankees altered their facial hair policy in 1995, allowing Mattingly and other Yankees players to grow goatees. The Yankees started that season 15-24, then goatees were banned and the facial hair policy was reinstalled. They went 64-41 the rest of the way and made the postseason.
“It’s like a slap on the wrist,” Mattingly told the New York Times after the policy was reverted back. “They shouldn’t have changed it in the first place if they were going to take it away.”
In 2016, his first season as Miami Marlins manager, Mattingly implemented a Yankees-esque facial hair policy. Mattingly and the Marlins dropped the policy one year later.
5. Jason Giambi
After back-to-back monster seasons with the Oakland Athletics, including winning AL MVP in 2000 and being the runner-up in 2001, Giambi joined the Yankees on a seven-year free-agent contract worth $120 million in Dec. 2001. Giambi had a long-haired, goateed, party boy image with the A’s. Once he joined the Yankees, he was clean shaven.
“I told him there’s a tradition here,” Yankees legend Yogi Berra said at the time.
Giambi grew a mustache in 2006 and continued to wear it in 2008, when he clubbed 32 homers with a .373 on-base percentage. Teammates grew mustaches to support Giambi’s All-Star case that summer and the Yankees had a promotional fake mustache giveaway that year.
History of Yankees’ no-beard policy: George Steinbrenner’s facial hair rules changed after nearly 50 years
Mike Axisa
6. Randy Johnson
Throughout his career The Big Unit sported long hair and a gnarly mustache. Upon his trade to the Yankees in 2005, the mustache remained (after some trimming), though the long hair had to go. Johnson had a full no-trade clause and requested a trade from the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks, so he knew what he was signing up for when he approved the trade to the Yankees. Still, clean cut was certainly a new look for one of the most intimidating pitchers to ever play the game.
Getty Images
7. Johnny Damon
Perhaps the poster boy for before and after photos of the Yankees’ facial hair policy, Damon went from long hair and a thick beard with the Boston Red Sox to clean cut with the Yankees after signing a four-year contract worth $52 million in Dec. 2005.
Getty Images
“First of all, what do you guys think about this? Obviously keep on snapping away,” Damon joked with photographers at his introductory press conference. “… I was thinking about cutting my hair right after the season. I knew if I came here it would be a big deal.”
Damon of course helped the Red Sox defeat the Yankees during their historic 3-0 comeback in the 2004 ALCS. He later helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series with his new clean-cut look.
8. Darnell McDonald
On July 4, 2012, the Yankees claimed McDonald off waivers from the rival Red Sox. In accordance with the team’s hair policy, he had to shave his beard and also cut his dreadlocks. The dreads were donated to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients.
Although McDonald’s dreads ultimately went to a good cause, he had to cut them for what proved to be a short stint with the Yankees. He played only four games with the Yankees, then was designated for assignment on July 15. He had to cut his hair and shave to spend less than two weeks with the team.
Throughout his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros, Cole rocked a beard and longer hair that curled out of his hat and didn’t actually reach his collar. He’s worn his hair similarly with the Yankees and bumped up against the “no hair below the collar” rule, but his beard has been absent since signing his then-pitcher record nine-year, $324 million contract in Dec. 2019.
Getty Images
“The only information we were offered from (GM Brian Cashman) was that we’re not trying to look like Duck Dynasty,” Cole told reporters following Friday’s announcement. “No diss against Duck Dynasty, grinding in the woods all the time, you don’t really have another option.”
As a team leader and former beard-haver, Cole is a good bet to be among the very first Yankees to grow out a beard in accordance with the team’s new facial hair policy.
Poor Williams. Acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in December, Williams had to shave his beard after reporting to the Yankees for spring training earlier this month. Now he gets to grow it back again. I guess that’s better than nothing, but jeez guys, you couldn’t make this decision before Williams had to shave?
“I feel naked,” Williams said after shaving his beard.
Williams’ comment is a reminder that it’s fair to wonder if the facial hair policy put the Yankees at a competitive disadvantage. If players were uncomfortable with their appearance, it could affect their performance, plus the hair policy could have pushed free agents away. Former San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson refused to shave his beard to sign with the Yankee, for example.
“If we miss out on one player because of that, that’s too many,” manager Aaron Boone said about the hair policy Friday. Now the Yankees no longer have to worry about that. Their longstanding no beards policy is no more.
Read the full article here