Yankees bat boy hides long hair after uproar over breaking team rule originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There's no letting your hair down when wearing a New York Yankees uniform. Not even if you're the team's long-haired bat boy.
During the seventh inning of the Yankees' road game against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday, YES Network announcer Michael Kay noticed the bat boy seated near the team's dugout was breaking rules implemented long ago by late owner George Steinbrenner.
Under the Yankees' "Neatness Counts" policy started by Steinbrenner in 1976, no player, coach or male executive can have hair that reaches the collar of their shirt or any facial hair other than a mustache.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
The bat boy - wearing a Yankees road gray uniform, blue batting helmet and red shoes (another broken rule) - had long blonde hair that extended well beyond his collar and some stubble below the chin.
"Strange to see a Yankee uniform, somebody wearing that uniform with that sort of hair," Kay said during the broadcast as cameras focused on the bat boy. "Rules are rules. He's disobeying two of them. I think there's facial hair and ... obviously, the hair is below the collar."
Sports
The bat boy, who is employed and assigned by the home Guardians and likely unaware of the Yankees' policy, was then caught in the crosshairs.
There was uproar on social media with some angry about the bat boy breaking the rules, and others pulling their hair out over what they feel is an antiquated team policy.
"If the players aren’t allowed," Kay added on Monday, "I don’t know if the bat boy should be allowed."
The bat boy was no longer allowed to display his flowing locks during Tuesday's game.
"They had him tuck the hair under the helmet," Kay said during Tuesday's broadcast. "His name is Nate, he’s in a band, he’s a drummer -- Open Doors is the name of the band -- and he found all the uproar from social media kind of humorous yesterday."
Nothing a man bun can't solve.
