news BASEBALL PUERTO RICO’S DYE-HARD FANS

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Pharmacies and beauty stores across Puerto Rico are running out of hair dye as a growing number of men go blond in support of the island’s baseball players who bleached their hair as a bonding ritual ahead of the World Baseball Classic.

What began as a joke among team members playing in California has spread across the island in a trend that spiked Tuesday just hours after Puerto Rico beat the Netherlands to reach the championship game undefeated in the tournament, which is held every four years. Puerto Rico will play today in the final against the winner of the Tuesday night game between the United States and Japan. Copper blond, platinum blond, golden blond — all shades of blond (even burnt orange) are turning heads in a U.S. territory where the majority of men have thick, dark hair and are now getting teased about looking like Ken dolls. Those who are bald have opted to dye their beards or goatees in a nod to Puerto Rico coach Carlos Delgado.

Men ranging from news anchors to university students to professionals have embraced a trend that has sparked the rallying cry of “Team Rubio!’’ or “Team Blond’’ in Spanish. Puerto Rico’s undefeated run to the championship has boosted the spirit of an island mired in a decade-long recession that faces a rocky recovery amid looming austerity measures for its government. Even young students have been sporting blond do’s, prompting public schools to suspend them until the island’s education secretary stepped in and said in a letter made public Tuesday that they should be allowed to dye their hair during the tournament.