One of the dumbest traditions in all of sport is finally dead. The Yankees are amending their no-facial hair policy:

“..we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward.”

The policy was a George Steinbrenner thing dating back to the 1970s. He had a military background and felt like being clean shaven brought about some sort of discipline and order within the team. No beards, no long hair, no mutton chops, only mustaches were allowed, which is why so many Yanks over the years have looked like Burt Reynolds and “Goose” Bradshaw from Top Gun. Truly some terrible mustaches on that team in recent years.

But as you know, we’ve arrived in the 21st Century, and people have long hair, tattoos, facial hair, earrings, dreadlocks, and everything else. Brandon Marsh is known for the beard and the wet hair, which looks like it was soaked in 10 pounds of LA Looks gel. Alec Bohm has the trademark curls. Bryce Harper has the beard and goes back and forth with the hair length. Nick Castellanos, Matt Strahm, etc. You go down the list and think about how boring it would be if John Middleton came in with the crusty boomer mandate and told all these guys they have to shave.

Athletes have unique personalities and unique looks and express themselves in different ways. None of this is taboo anymore and nobody cares. We welcome the Yankees to modernity.