Facial hair banned for club’s prospects
Abraham Lincoln-esque beard at camp. After being cut from major league camp Monday, Holmes will have to cut the beard, too.
Some players bicker about the facial hair rules, and when Holmes was in Class A, he recalled some teammates pressing their luck by growing out a mustache and dyeing it jetblack. Nevertheless, most players didn’t seem too miffed by it even if, as Holmes put it earlier this spring, “It’s nice to give shaving a break.”
The rule was the brainchild of assistant general manager Kyle Stark. General manager Neal Huntington signed off, and senior director of minor league operations Larry Broadway has carried it out since then. The goal, Huntington said, is for minor leaguers to look “professional” and “representative” of the organization.
“We decided to draw a distinction,” Huntington said. “Guys graduate and earn different rights when they get to the major leagues.”
Broadway said the policy is about attention to detail, focus and commitment to the team — the idea of giving up something of yourself for the sake of the larger group. While most aspects of the game of baseball are out of players’ hands, “this is an element of our day which is completely in our control,” Broadway said.
“It’s a small thing, very easy to do,” Broadway said, “but something you can do every single day.”
Many teams have policies regarding uniforms and general grooming. The New York Yankees don’t let major leaguers have beards, and the Cincinnati Reds had a similar rule from 1967 to 1999.
“Pretty much everywhere I had been as a player the minor leagues were clean-shaven,” Broadway said.
In the Pirates organization, the clean-shave order is one of several policies that are stricter for minor leaguers than major leaguers. For example, minor leaguers can’t have hair down to their collar, they can’t wear fluorescent cleats, and their pant legs must be raised.
When Trevor Williams was traded from the Miami Marlins to the Pirates, he had to adapt to the Pirates’ more restrictive facial hair rules. Williams had pitched with some sort of facial hair since college, and given his sensitive skin, he would try to grow out a bit of scruff to avoid breaking out.
“I would push it as much possible,” Williams said. “And I would do it like once every five days. … I would shave the day before my start, or the day after my start. So I would always pitch with some scruff.”
If a member of the front office was in town, though? “Then, I was shaving every day,” Williams said.
For catcher Jacob Stallings, who has sported a closely trimmed beard this spring, the rule has caused some irritation, especially because he wears a catcher’s mask and has been known to shave with the low-tech, single-blade razors available at the ballpark. Now, he’s got an electric razor, and in any case, he has found things are a little more lenient at the Class AAA level.
“I think it’s just don’t let it get out of control, and people are OK,” he said.
Stallings doesn’t have a huge problem with the rule, although he has been known to police Schugel’s beard in the minors. Still, after letting his facial hair grow out during his Pirates debut in 2016, and then having to shave as soon as he was sent down again, a thought occurred to him.
“Man, this is motivation to go back to the big leagues.”