TAMPA, Fla. — Hours before the New York Yankees began their first spring training game of 2025, owner Hal Steinbrenner announced a new facial-hair policy that will change the way the club looks moving forward.
The 49-year rule implemented by George Steinbrenner, Hal’s father, that banned beards is now a thing of the past. Yankees players can have well-groomed beards starting now. Yankees catcher Austin Wells, who grows a thick beard in the offseason, was still processing the news shortly after it was announced.
“I think it’s always been a conversation,” Wells said, “But, I don’t think it was ever something that might actually happen.