Perhaps the biggest news of the offseason broke on Friday, the day of the New York Yankees' first spring training game. After decades of instituting the worst rule in professional sports, the Yankees decided enough was enough and revealed that they would ditch their facial hair rule.
As weird as this is to say out loud, the Yankees prohibited players from growing beards or having long hair. Now, that is no longer. Players and all uniformed personnel are allowed to have "well-groomed" beards from now on. Players who have become unrecognizable due to this rule like Devin Williams now are allowed to have a beard as long as the Yankees believe it fits their "well-groomed" criteria.
This change of policy came out of nowhere and shocked many, perhaps nobody more than former Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres. His reaction says it all.
Gleyber Torres didn’t believe the Yankees ended their policy against facial hair.
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) February 21, 2025
‘No way.’
‘Really?’
‘That’s true?’
He was assured it was true.
‘Oh well. I’m surprised.’
Torres needed assurance that he was not dreaming and the Yankees had, in fact, finally adapted to the times.
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Gleyber Torres could not have been more shocked by Yankees rule change
It's safe to assume Torres didn't love how his Yankees tenure concluded. He found himself in countless trade rumors, was asked to move off of his position in the middle of a contract year, and was often blamed for the team's struggles, fair or not, by the fan base and the organization. Unsurprisingly, the Yankees showed no interest in keeping him around before he signed with the Detroit Tigers.
Torres needed a fresh start, and got one with his one-year deal with the Tigers. In Detroit, Torres is going to play regularly at the keystone and provide a much-needed right-handed bat to an awfully left-handed heavy lineup. He'll have a chance to have a big year in a low-pressure environment and potentially cash in on a multi-year deal next offseason. The fit makes a lot of sense.
Perhaps most importantly with this fresh start, though, Torres earned the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do with his facial hair. Torres grew his beard out in record time after signing with the Tigers, as is often customary when a Yankees player signs elsewhere.
Now, as the Yankees continue to shift away from being the Yankees we remember, Torres gets to laugh with his full beard in his new home. After how his Yankees tenure ended, all we can really say is good for him.