Subscribe
Follow Us
The baseball world was in shock to hear the New York Yankees were changing their decades-old policy on disallowing a bevy of facial hair on players. After the announcement was made by the Yankees, there have been a bunch of people reacting positively about the move, one being baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.
To the eyes of Rosenthal per his appearance on the show Foul Territory, it was a long time coming and would also mock the “Yankee Pride” which in itself was connected to their strict policy on facial hair rather than the history attached to the team.
“It’s been a ridiculous policy for way too long,” Rosenthal said. “My only question is what took so long? Why even was this policy under Hal Steinbrenner prolonged in the first place? I just don’t understand this whole thing from start to finish. This Yankee Pride stuff. My friend Joel Sherman pointed out at one point, well Yankee Pride, they’ve already put some advertising on the uniform, a Nike Swoosh. They’ve also moved from one Yankee Stadium to the other, to the other. They’ve had 3 different Yankee Stadiums. This tradition stuff, why did it have to include the hair? That didn’t really make much sense to me.”
Yankees' Hal Steinbrenner explains decision to change facial hair policy
Subsequently, New York released a statement via their social media accounts signed by Hal Steinbrenner that spoke about the decision and how he had “spoken to a large number of former and current” members of the ballclub about the topic.
“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees – spanning several eras – to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback. These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years,” Steinbrenner said.
“Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward,” Steinbrenner continued. “It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
Statement from Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner on the alteration of Yankees facial hair policy: pic.twitter.com/UdEuAg3gZy
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 21, 2025
The new policy change was talked about around the sports world, even by Yankees manager Aaron Boone, but Steinbrenner would explain the decision even more, connecting it to scenarios of some players avoiding the team because of the old rule.
“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 said via The New York Post. “I am fairly convinced that’s a real concern.”
At any rate, New York will now let players have more individuality as they look to capture their 28th World Series championship after making the title series, only to lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
