Let There Be Beards, Finally

The Yankees entered the 21st century last week when Hal Steinbrenner finally came to his senses and ended the ridiculous no facial hair policy that his father George instituted back in the mid-1970s. You know it’s the spring when that’s the biggest news over the past few days down in Tampa as the Yankees got their spring training schedule rolling. Lets get to it.

For quite a while I’ve been fairly convinced that I’m never going to see the Buffalo Bills win a Super Bowl, and I know damn well I’m never going to see the woeful Buffalo Sabres win a Stanley Cup.

Then again, I never thought I’d ever see the day when the Yankees allow players to grow beards, so hey, maybe there is hope for the Bills and Sabres now that the world is spinning off its axis.

I can wholeheartedly and proudly say that I’m an old soul, as old-school about most things as anyone and that runs the gamut of everything in my life. But regarding the Yankees’ longstanding no facial hair policy, I always thought it was stupid and archaic and needed to be abolished. And finally, Hal the son saw the light.

I am sure many of you disagree and believe Hal was wrong for changing course on this and that’s fine. Tradition and all, and tradition is very important to me, too, but this had nothing to do with tradition. Pinstripes are a tradition. No names on the back of the jersey is a tradition. God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch is a tradition. This no facial hair nonsense was George flexing his muscles back in the 1970s when he ran the Yankees as if they were the 101st Airborne Division.

“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 said in statement that was released Friday morning which rocked the baseball universe. “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 key term in that statement was “well-groomed” and everyone has to understand what that means. The Yankees are not going to become the Johnny Damon-led 2004 Red Sox who looked like a bunch of homeless dudes dressed in baseball uniforms. They aren’t going to allow their players to look like guys auditioning for the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar. If you don’t know who Brandon Marsh of the Phillies is, then Google him. That look, which is simply idiotic to my old-school brain, is not what the Yankees are going to become.

Well-groomed means neat and tightly-cropped, and the restriction on hair length remains above the collar.

“It’s appropriate. It makes sense,” said Gerrit Cole, one of the players along with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton who Steinbrenner consulted when he considered changing what he admitted was a “outdated and somewhat unreasonable” policy, one that he’d .been contemplating a change for years.

One of the things that was raised to Steinbrenner when making this decision is that this is a new age of player, and there might come a time when a free agent would spurn the Yankees because he had to shave his beard. I would argue that that has probably already happened. The Yankees will never admit it, but I’m sure there have been players in the past who, when given a choice between the Yankees and another team, told the Yankees to go pound salt because of the facial hair rule.

Some are pointing to new reliever Devin Williams as the player who may have stirred the pot on this. He had no choice coming to New York because Milwaukee traded him, but he has always worn a beard and he was not thrilled that he has to shave it.

“I obviously shaved my beard, so I was complying with the policy, but now I’m glad that it’s changed,” he said Saturday. “It’s been a long tradition, which I respect that. I’m just happy with the decision he made. Personally, that’s my preferred look. That’s how I feel most comfortable for myself.”

Williams is set to be a free agent after 2025, and he admitted that re-signing with the Yankees might have been questionable for him had the policy not been changed. “It’s something that I would consider, for sure,” he said. “It’s definitely a conversation that comes up when you’re talking about coming here. It’s something everyone’s well aware of and some guys aren’t OK with it.”

Injuries are already a concern

It certainly didn’t take long for the trainers to get busy at Legends Field. The Yankees have barely been in camp a week and they’re already dealing with a lengthy list of injuries.

• What would a baseball season be without Stanton missing part of it. I’ll tell you what it would be: Fiction. Since he debuted with the Marlins in 2010, there have been only three of his first 15 seasons where he played at least 150 games, the last being 2018, the year he joined the Yankees. Since then, the most games he has played in pinstripes is 139 in 2021, and remember, the schedule is 162 so even that yeat, he missed nearly a month. He has tendinitis in both elbows which seems pretty incredible, and Aaron Boone said he’s not sure Stanton will be ready for Opening Day.

• Right-handed pitcher Chase Hampton, who was on track to compete with Marcus Stroman and Will Warren to be considered for spot starts in the case of rotation injuries, underwent Tommy John surgery so he’s done until probably the middle of 2026.

• Speaking of which, one of those starters, Clarke Schmidt, who missed three months of 2024 with a lat strain, is dealing with a back injury so he’s going to be ramped up slowly and the hope is that he’ll be ready when the season starts.

• Backup outfielder Trent Grisham has a hamstring problem which has delayed the start of his training and Boone said Sunday he’s still 7-10 days from game action.

• Reliever Jake Cousins has a forearm strain in his pitching arm and won’t be ready until sometime in April, if things progress well.

• Reliever Jonathan Loaisiga, who had Tommy John surgery last April, probably won’t be heard from until early May, again, if things progress well.

• And in Friday’s exhibition opener, reliever JT Brubaker got hit in the lower back by a line drive comebacker and had to leave the game.

We’re one week into spring training, folks.

As we expected, Aaron Boone is locked up

The Yankees extended the manager’s contract through the 2027 season. You all know my feelings on Boone, but those are not shared by Hal and Brian Cashman. They love him, even though he has not won a World Series in his first seven seasons.

As I’ve said in the past, Boone provides a good face for the franchise because he knows how to deal with the media, and he’s clearly someone the players love playing for because he coddles them at every turn. But even though his record is fantastic (603-429 in the regular season), that’s mainly because he’s usually had a deep well of talent on the roster. I’ve never trusted Boone’s decision-making and we can only hope that he won’t hold the Yankees back through the duration of this latest contract extension.

“We’ve got so many personalities that come through here - different egos, guys that have won MVPs, won Cy Youngs,” said Aaron Judge, who is Boone’s biggest fan. “To bring us all together, he does such a good job with that. He just cares about all of us. Leading us to the World Series last year, the amount of winning seasons we’ve had, taking us to the postseason all those years, except for 2023, as players, having a leader like that who we can look to and come to, he knows all of us in this room. We’re just in a good position. It helps us have this good foundation going in, knowing that it’s not a one-and-done thing. We’ve got him for a couple of years.”

The spring games are underway

➤ The Yankees opened their spring schedule with a 4-0 victory over the Rays on Friday. Stroman got the start and he gave up two hits but no runs in his one inning of work, while Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt made nice first impressions. In the bottom of the first, Jasson Dominguez was in the leadoff spot and drew a walk, he raced to third on a single by Bellinger, and then scored when Goldschmidt ripped a double to deep left-center.

Warren, who struggled so much last season in spot starts when he was up from Triple-A, pitched the second and third innings and gave up a hit and walk while striking out three. And outfielder Garrett Jones, who the Yankees hope is their next big prospect but who has a big-time strikeout problem, had and RBI single and also drew a walk.

➤ Saturday, the Yankees lost 6-4 to Toronto. Jones provided the best moment with a two-run opposite field homer to left. The home run came right after the Yankees won a ball-strike challenge. Everson Pereira was originally rung up looking on a 3-2 pitch but he challenged, and the ABS system which is being tested out in the majors this spring proved him correct so he instead was awarded first base. A couple pitches later, Jones launched.

“That’s a perfect situation (to challenge) - a 3-2 break-even pitch,’’ Boone said. “The difference between a strikeout and getting on base set up a good inning for us. The timing to challenge a close pitch was there, and obviously, he was right and convicted on it. We’ll continue to gain as much experience with it as we can.’’

The ABS system can’t get to MLB fast enough. Many of you have attended minor league games in Rochester and Buffalo where the system has been in place for a few years and you know it works very well. Each team gets two challenges per game but if you win a challenge, you get to keep it. Only the batter, pitcher and catcher can challenge, and they usually take about 10-15 seconds max for the call to be proven right or wrong. If all goes well in the spring, MLB is expected to implement the system in 2026 and it will really help the game.

Carlos Rodon got the start against the Jays and he wasn’t good. He went 2.2 innings and gave up three earned runs on five hits and a walk with just one strikeout. It’s early, so no one is panicking.

➤ On Sunday, never mind the result. The Yankees lost 4-0 to the Tigers and no one cares. But the performance of Dominguez in left field was highly problematic. The No. 1 prospect is under the microscope this spring because the time has come for him to secure his long-anticipated spot in the Yankees’ every-day lineup.

The batting tools have been solid throughout his rise through the minors, and he has played pretty well in his natural center field position. However, the Yankees are trying to convert him to left field because Bellinger was signed as a free agent, and that transition took another detour in this game.

Sunday, he looked as clueless as ever out there. In the third inning he lost a routine fly ball in the sun that was scored a single but in reality was an error. And then in the fourth, he took a bad route to a ball into left-center that should have been caught. That fell for an RBI double and two batters later, Dillon Dingler hit a two-run homer to give Detroit a 3-0 lead.

We saw the struggles Dominguez had in left in a brief cameo late last year and it was enough to render him unplayable in the postseason. It’s still too early to pass judgement, but this move of Dominguez to left is not going well.

“There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to handle left field,” Boone said after the game.

Those three runs all came off newly-acquired reliever Fernando Cruz who had a rough Yankee debut. He gave up a stinging double to right, then the ball Dominguez misplayed into a double, followed by the Dingler home run. He did strike out his last batter, but Cruz’s devastating splitter that we heard so much about wasn’t splitting too well. Again, it’s early.