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managing general partner of the team and son of George Steinbrenner, said he made the decision that the policy was outdated after speaking with current and former players.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.

But Steinbrenner’s son, Hal, on Friday said he was concerned that the policy was preventing the team from acquiring players that could help it win games. Asked if he had lost out on any players because of the facial hair policy, Steinbrenner said, “no.” But the policy has deterred prospective players in the past.

In November 2013, Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees, reportedly said “I can rule out” Brian Wilson, a then-pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who was known for his long beard.

Wilson isn’t the only MLB player to refuse to cut his facial hair.

Don Mattingly, a Yankees player in 1991, was benched for not cutting his hair.

Facial hair policy beyond the Yankees 

The Yankees are not the only MLB team to have a facial hair policy.

The Cincinnati Reds banned facial hair starting in 1969 before lifting the policy in 1999.

The Miami Marlins in 2016 adopted a policy banning facial hair before softening it the next year and allowing it as long as it looked neat.

The sports world reacts

Some fans and sports commentators see the move as a home run, with one fantasy football podcaster writing on X, “The bearded Yankees are long overdue.”

MLB players such as Clay Holmes, a pitcher for the New York Mets and former Yankees player, were surprised, but welcomed the move.

“It’s a cool thing for the players. It’ll be cool to see who grows a beard out,” Holmes told The Athletic.

Marcus Stroman, a pitcher for the Yankees, told The Athletic it’s “pretty cool to see the change” and said the policy shift can help attract prospective players.

Individual freedom and being more comfortable is a “nice balance,” Cole also said.

“I think shaving can get a bit mundane through the whole year, and uncomfortable at times, but by and large, every year that I’ve been here, we all generally like the idea that we look good. We look clean. We look neat and tidy,” he said.

But some have expressed disappointment that the Yankees tradition is gone.

Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson told USA Today he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

“I’m really torn. Part of me is like, ‘Dang’,” Swanson said according to the newspaper. “I mean, it was the Yankees. That was their thing, being clean-shaven. It was pretty cool.”