Yankees alter longstanding facial hair policy to allow ‘well-groomed beards’

Few sports cling to tradition more than baseball and that’s especially the case when it comes to the New York Yankees.

But while we shouldn’t be expecting names to be added to back of the Bronx Bombers’ jerseys anytime soon, the franchise is making one major change to its uniform policy, with owner Hal Steinbrenner announcing that the team will now be allowing beards — so long as they’re “well-groomed.”

Steinbrenner made the announcement via the team’s official X account on Friday morning. The decision ends a longstanding policy to only allow players and uniformed personnel to have facial hair in the form of mustaches, which was first enacted by his father, legendary Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, in 1976.

“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,” Hal Steinbrenner’s statement reads. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. 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. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

It’s unclear what the rule change means for the Yankees’ policy regarding scalp hair, which prohibits players from having hair length “grown below the collar.” The team’s original “Neatness Count” policy reads: “No beards. No beads. No mutton chops. No long hair. No long stirrups.”

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

While most baseball fans had become accustomed to the Yankees’ being “clean cut” — including Johnny Damon famously chopping off his long hair and shaving his signature beard upon joining the franchise as a free agent ahead of the 2006 season — the seemingly antiquated policy had become a talking point in recent years. Early in the 2023 season, Michael Kay famously took issue with a bat boy being spotted with long locks, which resulted in the YES Network play-by-play man then taking issue with this very website.

Yet despite most figuring that beards would be banned for Yankees players so long as a Steinbrenner owned the team, some recent signs indicated that a change could be coming. Upon arriving for Spring Training last week, recently acquired All-Star closer Devin Williams was sporting his trademark beard. And while he later shaved it off (albeit not completely) before taking the field, it appears he’ll now be allowed to grow it back.