Derek Jeter played under the New York Yankees’ strict facial hair policy for his entire MLB career. But now thanks to the magic of artificial intelligence, we finally have an idea of what he might have looked like otherwise.
The Yankees shocked the baseball world on Friday by announcing the end of their longstanding policy against facial hair (other than mustaches). Beginning in the 2025 season, the Yankees will now be allowing “well groomed beards” on their players.
You can read Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner’s full statement on the policy change here.
In reaction to the news, the retired former Yankees captain Jeter posted a hilarious image to his Instagram page. Jeter shared an AI-generated photo of himself rocking a beard while in his Yankees jersey.
“New rules!” Jeter wrote in his caption.
The Yankees’ policy had been in place for nearly 50 years after first being implemented by George Steinbrenner, Hal’s father who owned the team from 1973 until his death in 2010. The clean-cut nature of their players helped the Yankees develop an iconic image, and the no-facial-hair policy quickly became a trademark of their franchise. Jeter, who played for New York from 1995-2014, was a major part of that as well with the tidy and professional aura that he carried throughout his playing career.
But Jeter might not have been the biggest fan of the policy all along as he later refused to implement it at a subsequent MLB stop. Now Jeter has won the Internet for the day with his fantastic reaction to the Yankees’ facial hair ban finally coming to an end.
