On August 15th, 1991, New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly was benched and fined $250 for refusing to cut his shoulder-length hair, but the Yankees still beat Kansas City, 5 – 1. He would get a haircut two days later, and the hair will eventually be auctioned off for $3,000 to benefit a children’s charity. Mattingly is not alone; Steve Farr, Matt Nokes, and Pascual Perez had all been told their hair length violated club policy. Mel Hall, who wore his hair in a small ponytail before and after games, was warned his appearance is “borderline.”

The list of reasons to be a Yankee hater are as long as Brandon Marsh’s beard. But certainly at the top of any list has to be how seriously they take themselves.

Every team in baseball has a City Uniform but the Yankees and the Athletics. The Athletics don’t have one because beginning at the end of this season, they no longer have a city. The Yankees don’t have a City Uniform because… well they are the “Damned Yankees.” Always taking themselves too seriously.

One of the many reasons, I am sure, that the Oakland A’s were my favorite team as a kid is the fact that they just looked cooler than any other team. Owner Charlie Finley actually paid Oakland players $300 to grow facial hair in the early 1970s.

The Yankees eventually gave in to mustaches (Mattingly had one, of course) but they have stuck to their hair policy, which is as follows:

 “All players, coaches, and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar.

My two questions are: How can anyone born after Eisenhower was president play for or be a fan of such a stick-up-their-butt team?