Boston Globe
NEW YORK YANKEES SUFFER CURSE OF THE CLEAN CUT
October 22, 2019
Dear Editors,
NEW YORK YANKEES SUFFER CURSE OF THE CLEAN CUT
October 22, 2019
Dear Editors,
I’m a devoted New England sports fan, but I must admit I felt a tinge of sadness when the New York Yankees lost in the American League Championship Series.
After an incredibe regular season, what can explain the misfortune that befell our archrival?
It’s simple: the team’s grooming policy. The Yankees are the only baseball team that insists that players be well groomed — short hair on top, and no facial hair (except for religious reasons).
My suggestion: Get rid of this anachronistic policy, and let your players wear their hair long and grow out those beards. Remember what happened to Samson.
Allen M. SpivackJamaica Plain
THAT, HAL IS TOUGH ON.
ReplyDeleteNOTHING ELSE MATTERS TO HIM ON THE BASEBALL FIELD, EXCEPT FOR THAT.
HE THINKS THAT POLICY MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE A STERN DISCIPLINARIAN.
WHAT A CROCK.
SLIM, SMARMY, MOTHERFUCKER.
ALL-CAPS, I don't even know if he gives a shit. It might just be some holdover from George's days and maybe Brian plays it up as a way to kiss Hal's ass.
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase something I recently read in the news: "Brian's nose is a heat-seeking missile for Hal's ass."
It's a holdover from the glory days of the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s. I still like it. Other teams' players look like bums. My wife agrees. I guess we're old-fashioned.
ReplyDeleteJM you are old fashioned, yes.
ReplyDeleteThe writer makes a good point.
ReplyDeleteI propose a compromise based on merit. The higher your BA/OBP (or the lower your ERA/WHIP) the more hair you are able to have.
So if you're a .280 hitter you can grow a mustache or sideburns .300 a goatee. If you hit .320 or more you can look like the wolf-man as far as I'm concerned.
Conversely, the worse you play the more you need to shave. Hit under .220 and it's time to take a bath in Nair.
I feel that this new grooming policy can only have a positive effect on the team by allowing current players and free agents to let their freak flags fly while discouraging players with potential nicknames like "The Chihuahua","Lex Luthor" and "The Twelve Year Old" from joining the team in the first place.
Doug K.
Doug, that’s pure genius.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably a bad idea in terms of attracting free agents...but I like it, too, JM, considering how awful most ballplayers' head and facial hair is. It seems to me an affectation that allows these guys to pretend that they are blue-collar worker.
ReplyDeleteHoss, You raise the interesting question that perhaps we’re not that attractive to free agents anymore? It’s not like George’s money machine/ATM these days.
ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding that we can blame VMI for that stultifyingly-mindless policy on no facial hair; George went to VMI, and sent his sons there, as well. I had a friend who went to that school, and it took him over thirty years to shake that so-called "clean-shaven" look. Now, he sports so much facial hair that I have difficulty remembering how his face used to look, in the "old days".
ReplyDeleteIMHO, they should have dumped that policy many years ago. LB (No J)
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