For the first time in six years, Devin Williams is clean shaven, as the new Yankee closer showed up to spring training on Wednesday with a new look to adhere to the team’s facial hair policy, which has been in place for nearly half a century.
Each time a new player comes to New York and has to drastically change his look due to the policy, the debate sparks up again over whether or not the policy should be scrapped. With Williams now having to shed his beard, Keith McPherson says it’s long past time for the Yanks to get with the times.
“The Yankees are so buttoned up, but what has it produced?” Keith said. “‘Keith, they’re in the playoffs every year.’ They’re supposed to be.
“Baseball is supposed to be fun. Let the kids play.”
There have been plenty of instances where players had to drastically change their look once they were acquired by the Yankees. Perhaps most notably, the Bombers acquired Darnell McDonald in 2013, made him cut off his dreadlocks, then released him shortly after. It’s a policy that Keith wants to see end, especially in an era of Major League Baseball in which players are trying to express themselves more on the field.
“Is this gonna exist in 20 years? Why are they controlling the players like that and making them shave?” Keith said. “As soon as these guys are not Yankees, they cannot wait to grow out their facial hair. I’m really getting to the point where it doesn’t make sense.
“Why do we still have a rule that doesn’t coexist with the rest of the changes? The Yankees don’t win enough to hold on to this policy. Let these men be who they want to be.”