The New York Yankees are the most successful and most famous franchise in all of sports. No other franchise has as rich a tradition as the Bronx Bombers, but even the home of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle isn’t immune to getting with the times.
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For nearly 50 years, the Yankees have had a policy of not allowing their players to have beards (mustaches are allowed, as seen on Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly), but this year, finally, that rule has been amended to also allow “well-groomed beards.”
This news came as a shock to Dwyane Wade and most of his cohosts on The Why podcast, and they wondered aloud how the Yankees could have gotten away with this for so long. “Even if you have facial hair before you came there and it was a part of your brand?” Wade asked. Yes, even then.
Some athletes have become famous as much for their facial hair as for their playing ability. Keeping it in the world of baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers, with his trademark handlebar mustache, is one. Wade wondered what would happen if the NBA player whose nickname is actually derived from his facial hair would have been made to shave if he wore pinstripes.
“So you’re telling me that someone would tell James Harden he gotta cut off his beard?” Wade asked.
There are photos of Harden without a beard, mostly from his time in college at Arizona State, but they’re about as unsettling as those doctored images of Super Mario without his mustache. Sometimes there should be no going back, team policy be damned.
Even under the Yankees’ new relaxed rule, Harden would still probably need to perform some maintenance on his chin accessory. Yankees closer Devin Williams has already taken advantage of the new policy, but his beard is much less voluminous than Harden’s.
The Yankees Waited A Long Time to Change
The Reds once had a similar “no facial hair” policy in place, though they smartly rescinded theirs about 25 years ago. In the NBA, the Bulls once had a “no headband” policy under former head coach Scott Skiles, a rule which caused quite a bit of friction between Skiles and Ben Wallace, who had worn one his whole career.
David Stern created the controversial dress code in 2005 that applied to all teams, a move that was enforced until 2020. Nowadays, players can basically wear what they want.
The Yankees have always operated on a different frequency. They’re the only MLB team with no player names on their jerseys. While the Red Sox may share the nameless jerseys for their home uniforms, they do wear their names on the road.
They’re also one of only two teams with no City Connect jersey due to their policy of never wearing alternate uniforms. The Oakland A’s are the other, but that’s only because they’re in the process of relocating to Las Vegas.
It’s about time that the Yankees loosened the reins a little. There’s no arguing against their track record of success, but there’s still a long way to go until they allow players the same kind of self-expression that we see in the NBA. Wade and Harden definitely chose the right sport in that regard.
