The Yankees announce a major change to their famous facial hair policy

The New York Yankees have taken the clippers to one of the team’s most longstanding policies.

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has announced the team will walk back its rules barring players from having beards.

“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,” Steinbrenner said in a statement posted on X by the Yankees on Feb. 21 revealing its altered rules.

“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.”

The rule was instituted in the 1970s by Hal Steinbrenner’s father, late owner George Steinbrenner.

“All players, coaches and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar,” the team’s player manual said, according to MLB.com. “Long sideburns and mutton chops are not specifically banned.”

Interestingly, newly acquired relief pitcher Devin Williams arrived at spring training earlier this month sporting a beard he wore while playing with his previous team, the Milwaukee Brewers. He even posed for his team photo with stubble.

After he was traded to the Yankees, Williams said he'd had his beard for six years and would like to keep it “as long as I can,” according to MLB.com.

While beards were a no-no, over the years the Yankees have had many stars who had mustaches, including Don Mattingly, Rich "Goose" Gossage, Dave Winfield and, more recently, Nestor Cortes Jr., who was one of the players the Yankees traded this past offseason in order to land Williams.

George Steinbrenner, who served in the Air Force, had defended the policy.

“I have nothing against long hair per se. But I’m trying to instill certain sense of order and discipline in the ballclub because I think discipline is important in an athlete,” he told The New York Times in 1976.

“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. I want to develop pride in the players as Yankees. If we can get them to feel that way and think that way, fine. If they can’t, we’ll get rid of them.”