Monday, February 24, 2025

Oakland introduced modern mustaches and beards in 1972. The Yankees banned beards in 1976 but rescinded in 2025.

Facial hair comes and goes. The first U.S. president with facial hair was Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln
Alexander Gardner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Grant, Hayes and Garfield consecutively also had full beards, as did Benjamin Harrison later.

Mustaches only: Arthur, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft.

So all presidents with facial hair were between 1861-1913. The sitting vice president has a full beard ... well-groomed as the Yankees newly require.

Reggie Jackson was among the first modern players with a beard ... just not with the Yankees.


For spring training of 1972, Reggie Jackson showed up with a mustache. After privately trying to get Jackson to shave it off, Finley instead decided to capitalize on the act of rebellion. He staged a “Mustache Night,” let mustached patrons in for a reduced price, and gave each player a small bonus if they wore mustaches for that night’s game. All players and coaches obliged, and most kept their mustaches all season. A few even sported beards. The team, dubbed “The Mustache Gang” in the press, went on to beat the clean-cut Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.
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Joe DiMaggio lucky to be a Yankee before beards. Saturday, February 22, 2025

Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games without a beard...

Reggie Jackson
... occasionally had a beard in Oakland before he came to the Yankees in 1977. Jackson's 'stache stayed in New York, but the beard went -- and that didn't stop him from becoming Mr. October...

I wish one of the articles had asked Reggie Jackson since he chose to join the Yankees the year after the policy started. He became Mr. October without a beard. Aaron Judge has hit 50 homers three times without a beard. Gerrit Cole won the Cy Young award without a beard.

Juan Soto left the Yankees after one year not for a beard but for money.
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The fact that none of the four players on the Yankees Mt. Rushmore had facial hair is not surprising. Hardly any players did 1920-1970.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge:

"I got drafted by this organization, so the very first day I was here, I’ve been shaving since 2013," Judge told the New York Post. "This is what I know, this is what I’m used to. I look around the building, look at old photos of the past legends and people that played here, they all followed that rule, so I just tried to follow on their path."

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