Simply again from a trip and, nicely, have a look at that, nonetheless in a lockout. I assume I can dig into who would be the Mets bench coach, however as soon as that's introduced, will probably be the final time I take into consideration that place till Buck Showalter is ejected and I flip to the individual subsequent to me and ask, “who's the bench coach once more?”
So with out free company or trades to concentrate on, I've determined to deal with a extremely massive problem. Facial hair. Notably the absence of it on Yankees gamers. Nicely, that's not precisely true. If in case you have social media accounts and comply with any Yankee, you'll study that their favourite offseason interest is just not golfing or fishing. It's rising a beard.
This is also true for any participant traded by the Yankees. It has change into a ceremony of passage (away from The Bronx) that the primary act after shifting elsewhere is to present a hirsute center finger to their former employer; a silent (but furry) sign that it was joyless misery taking part in for the Yankees.
And why are the Yankees even nonetheless imposing such inanity — which permits mustaches, however no beards or hair lengths under the collar? I emailed Hal Steinbrenner, who didn't reply, I assume as a result of as a member of MLB’s negotiating committee he was readying for Thursday’s first formal talks between house owners and gamers because the lockout started Dec. 2. It takes up plenty of time apparently to not negotiate. I reached out to the pinnacle of Yankees media relations, who ignored each textual content and e mail. I assume the silence is over concern that the dialog might transfer into a very furry space — like, is your crew planning to play and not using a shortstop this yr?
However again to the beards. If the argument to maintain Yankee gamers in uniform clean-shaven is custom primarily based, then I might ask about that uniform. There may be nothing extra conventional in baseball than the pinstripes — but the Yankees modernized (and monetized) by placing an athletic firm’s emblem throughout the buttons from the interlocking NY a number of years again when MLB reached an settlement for all groups to take action. How concerning the august stadium? Nicely, it's the third model of the power, it's extra mall than ballpark and it's a few soccer fields from the unique. So it's The Home That Ruth Constructed — form of.
May the Yankees efficiently defend protecting their coverage? They definitely would have a case. Groups are permitted to have cheap crew guidelines, and the Yankees have adhered to those grooming floor guidelines since George Steinbrenner established them shortly after buying the crew in 1973. Previous practices and precedent matter and so, maybe, an arbitrator would settle for that a baseball group has the best to manage the hair size of an grownup below its make use of. However is that this a case the Yankees wish to threat? I'm shocked they haven't been challenged on this but. And on this age, doesn’t it now really feel just like the disaster you possibly can see heading towards city, so when you can keep away from it, why not?
It's one factor for a free agent to signal with the Yankees, know the coverage and agree to simply accept it. However what of drafted gamers and, particularly, what of a traded participant who's a part of the MLB Gamers Affiliation? Would the Yankees void a deal if the baseball equal of James Harden, somebody like San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. or Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., refused a request to trim his hair and shave? They wouldn’t enhance their roster over this coverage? Immediately we might have had Bryce Harper, however he wouldn’t shave, so we refused to take him.
Would they actually wish to be seen as a corporation that may go to a grievance in opposition to a participant over hair — facial or lengthy? A participant corresponding to Guerrero has no management if his present crew trades him. Ought to he actually haven't any management over his face? Is that this one thing the Yankees actually wish to defend in 2022?
It's an outdated coverage. It was outdated 30 years in the past when Don Mattingly was benched for an August 1991 sport as a result of he refused a directive from above (George Steinbrenner was suspended, however it was clearly from him) to shorten the size of his hair. Does Hal Steinbrenner wish to be the man who offers the order if, say, Aaron Choose or any Yankee decides to hold his offseason beard into spring coaching?
To what finish? What normal is being upheld? This isn’t the army. An increasing number of, baseball is encouraging people to specific themselves by means of objects like footwear. There isn't any direct correlation between having a haircut that might cross Marine inspection and profitable. The clean-cut Yankees have one World Sequence title this century. They've gained one AL East title within the final 9 years: in 2019 when Aaron Boone known as his group “savages,” albeit the cleanest-cut savages in historical past. Is any fan actually saying, “Good for the Yankees for differentiating themselves?” Even when there have been such followers, ought to that permit the group to dictate what their workers do with their hair?
Hal Steinbrenner has necessary stuff on his agenda — serving to to get a brand new collective bargaining settlement for the game and discovering a shortstop for his crew. Nonetheless, he ought to discover time on the calendar to erase a not relevant legacy of his father. Make it: Gone right this moment, hair tomorrow.
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