Yankees grooming policy rescinded

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The Judge speaks (as quoted in the venerable New York Post earlier this week):

Judge said he was “definitely shocked” about the change in policy that was instituted in 1976 by George Steinbrenner. But he understood Hal Steinbrenner’s reasoning in not wanting the old policy to be something that would risk the Yankees’ chances of adding players that could help them win.

That said, Judge had a strong stance on players who might not have been willing to sign with the Yankees because they did not want to shave, though he said he had not heard of it happening.

"If that little rule is going to stop you from coming here, then you probably shouldn’t be here," Judge said. “If a little rule like that is going to stop you from doing your job, then I don’t think — I don’t know...

I got drafted by this organization, so the very first day I was here, I’ve been shaving since 2013," Judge said. "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."

In his one-on-one meeting with Steinbrenner, Judge emphasized that he thought it was important to keep the franchise’s other rules in place — such as no hair below the collar — because they help instill discipline.

“We definitely talked about that because that was one of my big things,” Judge said. “Rules, it’s all about discipline. Especially playing with the Yankees, this is a disciplined group. That’s one thing I learned all the way from the minor leagues up, you have those certain rules that teach you discipline, teach you a certain way. That was my big concern is, I didn’t want a lot of these rules to start changing.

“A lot of these separate us and make the New York Yankees the standard. We talked about a lot of those things. I just wanted to reiterate with him, ‘I understand the facial hair policy, but let’s keep a lot of these other things in check.’ ”