Strolling the grounds at George M. Steinbrenner Field, CC Sabathia scoffed at the notion that the Yankees have been some bastion of conformity.
The organization has long held a reputation for snuffing out personality, a perception that, according to Sabathia, stems from nothing more than the military-inspired grooming policy that George Steinbrenner implemented in the 1970s. Put the facial hair aside, and Sabathia always felt the public’s view of the pinstripes didn’t come close to reality during his 11 seasons in New York.
“I always thought it was buttoned up too until I got here,” the 44-year-old told the Daily News. “The only thing that’s buttoned up about this place is the facial hair rule. That’s it.
“Everything else, we’re a traveling circus.”
Sabathia, now a special assistant, shared those thoughts a day before Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, George’s son, amended the team’s grooming policy. The club previously banned facial hair below the upper lip, but Steinbrenner announced on Feb. 21 that beards are now permitted if they are well-groomed.
While explaining the shocking decision, Steinbrenner said that he feared the old policy could hinder the Yankees’ ability to acquire and retain talent. New closer Devin Williams, who expressed displeasure with the mandate, later said that the beard ban would have been something to consider in free agency next winter.
But Steinbrenner, 55, also noted that plenty of men younger than him have beards, and that it has become a cultural norm.
“It is a part of who these younger men are,” he said. “It’s part of their character. It’s part of their persona.”
Devin Williams already looks to be growing out the beard and exercising the Yankees new facial hair policy. pic.twitter.com/Fh2QvzRhYt
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) February 26, 2025
To hear a Steinbrenner take the side of individuality felt backwards, if not refreshing. That said, the team has embraced some vibrant, eccentric and goofy personalities in recent years — players who may not match fans’ image of the so-called Yankee Way — including Alex Verdugo, Juan Soto, Marcus Stroman and Luke Weaver.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., lover of unfiltered trash talk, sparkling jewelry and colorful gloves, might have the biggest personality of them all. It sometimes put him at odds with teammates in Miami, where the 27-year-old felt pressure to fall in line was higher than it is in the Bronx.
“Yes, 100 percent,” Chisholm told The News when asked if it was tougher to be himself as a Marlin. “I felt like Miami had more rules than here.”
Chisholm added he was surprised to learn that after being traded to the Bombers last summer. As a newcomer, he expected life with the Yankees to be “a little bit more strict.”
“Everybody’s telling me to be myself. Nobody really wants me to take my personality away, and they really love me being myself,” Chisholm said. “I’m super comfortable here. I wouldn’t want to go nowhere else, honestly.”
Now, there have been times when Aaron Boone has had to ask Chisholm to be himself “within reason,” the manager said.
“There’s things we do here a little bit different that you gotta conform to a little bit,” Boone continued. But he doesn’t want Chisholm to lose his “spark” and “swag,” and he’s expressed that to the second baseman.
“Just don’t overdo it, really,” Chisholm said of Boone’s messaging. “That’s all I hear on my end. Nothing more, nothing less on my side. I’m always gonna be me, so that’s the same thing I told him. If he needs me to tone it down, I would tell him, ‘Just come and let me know if this is a little bit too much.’ But at the same time, I’m still just gonna be myself.”
Chisholm went on to say there have been instances where Boone has told him to chill, but “it’s never been a big deal.” Just a conversation.
BREAKING: Jazz Chisholm Jr. will wear bejeweled pandas for this World Series.
“They bite,” he said. pic.twitter.com/Lhf0zbPaZF
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) October 24, 2024
A former Yankees player entering his eighth season as manager, Boone feels the club has become slightly less stuck in its ways throughout his tenure.
Then again, the same could be said for all of MLB, which is considered stuffier than the NFL and NBA.
“I think it’s the times now,” Boone said. “I guess I’m getting old, but certain things that are now run of the mill and very normal and matter of fact and can happen every day with all kinds of players; when I played, certain things wouldn’t happen. That’s not a bad thing, and maybe it’s a good thing.”
Boone, 52, did say some things still “drive you nuts,” but he didn’t want to elaborate at the risk of sounding like “the get off my lawn guy.”
“I can be offended,” he continued, “and that’s alright.”
Sabathia, meanwhile, noted that the Yankees teams he played on prior to Boone’s tenure were far from strait-laced.
That was particularly true of the 2009 championship squad, which saw remnants of the Yankees’ last dynasty — Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera — mesh with Sabathia and other new, colorful characters.
“We had [Nick] Swisher when I was here,” Sabathia said, no need for explanation. “We had A.J. [Burnett] pieing people.”
Of course, even Burnett had concerns about starting a whipped cream controversy, and Swisher’s rambunctious nature made him an easy-to-spot anomaly in Yankees history. But the latter is on the record saying he was told to be himself in New York. Sabathia said he always felt he could be as well.
Others had a harder time.
Clint Frazier, a lighting rod due to his unproductive play, long red locks and confident personality, once acknowledged, “I don’t fit the mold of what some of the past and current Yankees are like, and that may be why it’s a little bit harder for me to navigate every day. I am trying to be myself in here. Sometimes it feels like people have an issue with me just being myself.”
Clint Frazier is testing the limits of the hair policy, I see. pic.twitter.com/qHxTRpr3Z2
— River Ave. Blues (@RiverAveBlues) February 19, 2017
Then there’s Andrew McCutchen. He spent half a season with the Yanks in 2018. While he later said he enjoyed his time with the team, the typically-bearded and once-dreaded outfielder also criticized the team’s grooming policy.
“I definitely do think it takes away from our individualism as players and as people,” McCutchen said.
Now appearance is less of an issue after Steinbrenner worried an “outdated” rule could interfere with winning.
Aaron Judge, who watched Sabathia lead at the start of his career before becoming the Yankees’ captain, has tried to ensure that a star-filled room stays focused on exactly that. At the same time, he wants to foster a welcoming clubhouse.
“We traded for [Giancarlo] Stanton, we traded for Jazz, signed a Gerrit Cole, sign all these MVPs, All-Stars, Cy Young’s — they all have egos,” Judge told The News. “They all have their own personality, but they’ve done a good job at shaping that personality. My personality comes from wearing the pinstripes and being here. I can be myself, but ultimately it all comes out of trying to do everything I can for the Yankees to win.
“You see other teams where you got three or four different egos on the team where everyone’s like, ‘It’s all about me, me and me,’ but we’ve done such a good job here. You can be yourself, but don’t forget the common goal, which is representing the NY and representing this team.”
A bit old school compared to some players his age, the 32-year-old Judge shared mixed emotions regarding changes to the Yankees’ grooming policy. He pushed Steinbrenner to keep other stipulations, such as no hair below the collar, in place, and he showed affection for rules he had to adhere to in the minors, like only being allowed to wear black cleats and high socks.
Growing up — well after the raucous, dysfunctional-but-successful Bronx Zoo era — Judge associated the Yankees with discipline. He wants that to remain the case, even as others argue the team is not as regulated as outsiders believe.
“The perception,” Sabathia reiterated, “is not what it seems.”
