Yankees broadcaster reacts to team’s facial hair policy change

The New York Yankees announced Friday that their players no longer must be clean-shaven.

Owner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement that players would be able to keep “well-groomed” beards after discussing the matter with current and former players over “several” years.

The rule, which said players could not have facial hair below the lower lip, was established by Hal’s father, George Steinbrenner, in 1976.

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New York Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay and John Sterling before a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium April 20, 2024, in New York, New York. (New York Yankees/Getty Images)

Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay, who hosts a radio show during the week, was calling the team’s first spring training game of the season and of the franchise’s new hair era Friday.

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole. [It] kind of stunned the baseball world,” he said.

One of the main reasons the team lifted the rule was because it could discourage a player from choosing the Yanks as a future destination. 

“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, would not come here, because of that policy … that would be very, very concerning,” Steinbrenner told reporters Friday.

Hal Steinbrenner during a press conference at Yankee Stadium. (Jessica Alcheh/USA Today Sports)

Manager Aaron Boone told reporters he had heard rumblings about the policy change. It should be noted Vladimir Guerrero Jr., MLB’s next big free agent, has had a beard a majority of his career.

That sentiment, Kay said, was his biggest takeaway.

“I think the most telling thing that [Steinbrenner] said is, ‘We don’t want to ever be in a position where we lose a player that we think can help us win because he didn’t want to come here because of this rule.’ And I think what the Yankees did. They got ahead of things,” Kay added. 

“And I’ve always wondered, ‘If you’re going to change the rule, you almost have to change the rule before somebody fights back on it. Because if you did lose a player who said, ‘I’m not going to go there because I don’t want to shave,’ that would look really bad.”

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees in action against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium Sept. 5, 2022. in New York City. ( Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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Yankees Hall of Famers CC Sabathia and Derek Jeter have both grown beards since retiring. Players often grow facial hair when leaving the Yankees or during the offseason.

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