by: Isabella Urbani
Soon after Aaron Judge, “the best player going right now,” set the American-League record for the most single-season home runs, I became curious about the history of the Yankees, a team that has been a part of Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1903. It’s hard to think of baseball without immediately thinking about the New York Yankees — their infamous pinstripe uniform is a fixture of baseball culture, one that is recognized as a stand-out outfit. There was something unique about the Yankees team that stood out to me, and it wasn’t just the crisp white of their uniforms. While a white and navy palette makes putting a simple, yet sophisticated outfit together for game night easy, the classy concept behind the Yankees’ clean-cut look is rooted in something much deeper.
While watching Judge celebrate his victory, my boyfriend pointed out to me that nobody on the Yankees had a beard. This was the first time I had heard of an “appearance policy.” Sure, I knew there was certain etiquette about how to dress for a game from being around sports since I was young — upper-level hockey players arriving and leaving games in suits, for example. However, this was the first I had heard of players’ appearances being modified beyond rules pertaining to jerseys and equipment. The policy forbids players, coaches, and male executives from displaying facial hair beyond a moustache, only making exceptions for religious reasons, and “scalp hair may not be grown below the collar.” This “clean-cut” policy was introduced to the team in 1973 by George Steinbrenner, former Yankees franchise owner. He believed players with full grown beards looked “sloppy.” Instead, he wanted the team to look “professional and stand out almost as if they were the military.” In 1978, Steinbrenner told The New York Times that players could joke about the policy all they wanted, as long as they followed it — the rule was meant “to develop pride in the players as Yankees,” explicitly stating that should they fail to comply with this rule, they would be kicked off the team.
Many players, well-known for their long hair or beards, altered their appearances after signing with the Yankees, including Gerrit Cole and Jason Giambi. Free agents who refused to adopt the clean-cut look were often passed up, notably relief pitcher Brian Wilson in 2013. Alternatively, Don Mattingly became infamous for defying the clean-cut expectation, sporting a mullet during a game in 1991. He was promptly benched, and later ridiculed by the media.
But this facial hair rule had more sinister implications. In 1975, Black power-hitter and skilled outfielder Oscar Gamble arrived at the office of Billy Martin, former Yankees team manager. Gamble, who was well known at the time for sporting an afro that would sometimes be up to 12-inches wide, found no uniform hanging up for him in his locker. Martin informed him that he would not be allowed to play unless he cut his hair. Promptly, eight-inches were cut from his signature style.
The afro, a hairstyle with rich and complex history, is deeply intertwined with Black identity. African communities historically used the afro and other hairstyles as a way to denote ones’ identity, family background, and social status. Starting in the 17th century with the beginning of enslavement, and for around 350 years since, black hair was vilified by white people, and European hairstyles prevailed. In the ‘60s, the “Black is Beautiful” movement started in the States, with the aim of “embracing the beauty of our skin tones, facial features, and our crowns.” By the ‘70s, the hairstyle continued to be sported by celebrities, both men and women. But it wasn’t just a hairstyle, it was a “major political statement” and would often be associated with the Black power movement. Chad Dion Lassiter, president of the Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc. at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that “The Afro was Black beauty personified without White validation, and it did not care about critics. For many Black men, it was about cool pose and hyper-masculinity in the face of police brutality and constant oppression.” Despite its popularity, it was still shunned from mainstream publications. For this reason, the Oscar Gamble 1976 baseball card became so popular. In 1979, Gamble told The Sporting News that sports writers often refused to talk to him, thinking he was “some kind of militant with [his] beard and [his] hair.”
Since the desegregation of Major League Baseball over 75 years ago, the MLB has made significant contributions to promoting inclusion of athletes of all races and ethnicities from all over the world. Unfortunately, the same outdated rules that prevented Gamble from wearing his hair the way he wanted still dictate the Yankees’ appearance to this day — and it goes beyond baseball. Olympic gymnasts Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, and Canadian athletes, Sasha Exeter, Nastassia Subban, Acacia Hill, and Crystal Emmanuel, all Black athletes, have been subjected to criticism over their appearance and have faced rules and regulations that ignore Black hair. The thing is, it’s not just about hair. This kind of regulation reinforces attitudes that a professional appearance must reflect the expectations of what a proper player must look like to be taken seriously — according to the Yankees, this is the look of a white, upper-middle class man. The world of baseball is changing and evolving into a sport that is more about self-expression, sportsmanship, and community than it ever has been before — unfortunately, the Yankees have yet to realize this.
