Yankees finally end their archaic ban that's been in place for nearly 50 years

The New York Yankees have had a long-standing tradition at their ball club for nearly a half century, but their wild rule is finally coming to an end after 49 years. Back in 1976, former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner instituted a ban on any players on his team having facial hair and even beyond his passing New York has carried on that tradition until Friday.

The Yankees announced they will be ending that ban on players having beards, mustaches and all other kinds of facial hair.

The Yankees announce that they will end their policy that banned players from having facial hair pic.twitter.com/pemBFLfWvV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 21, 2025

Former Yankees player and manager Lou Piniella famously questioned Steinbrenner about the rule, saying "Jesus Christ had long hair and a beard." Steinbrenner's response was equally as amazing when he told Piniella to see if he could walk across the pond located in the old Yankee Stadium outfield.

Hal Steinbrenner, who currently serves as the Managing General Partner of the Yankees revealed the decision on Friday, which certainly had a mixed reaction from fans of the team.

In a lot of ways, this rule was long overdue to be recognized, however, it's easy to argue at the same time that with the Yankees carrying on this tradition for so long that they should probably continue to roll with it for future seasons.

Maybe my favorite George Steinbrenner story: https://t.co/zUsneBAg5S pic.twitter.com/4YRKqcOjze
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) February 21, 2025

As much as people dislike the Yankees outside of New York, it's a baseball team that continuously gets some of the best players in the sport to come to play for them, so the ban certainly hadn't deterred them over the years.

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