By Jill Martin, Kyle Feldscher and Jamie Barton, CNN

(CNN) -- Aaron Judge with a beard? With the rollback of a decades-old New York Yankees team rule, that just might be possible.

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner announced Friday that the team has amended its facial hair policy to allow "well-groomed beards." It's a decision that walks back a longstanding mandate Steinbrenner's father, the late George Steinbrenner, who bought the team in 1973.

The strict facial hair rule had been in place since the 1970s.

"In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees -- spanning several eras -- to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback," Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement.

"These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy."

The Yankees had generally required players to be clean shaven when they wore the pinstripes, but mustaches had been allowed.

The news could come as a relief in particular to newly acquired closer Devin Williams, who had rocked a beard for years as a Milwaukee Brewer before joining the Yankees this offseason. His team photo for the Yankees had made waves at the onset of spring training when he still sported some facial hair despite the ban.

The rule had drawn criticism from various players over the years. Don Mattingly was famously benched for a game in 1991 after he refused to cut his hair, an incident which was later parodied in the legendary "Homer at the Bat" episode of "The Simpsons."

More recently, former Yankees players Andrew McCutchen and Clint Frazier have both criticized the rule after leaving the club.

The policy has even seen the Yankees miss out on some high-profile players in the past. Three-time All-Star closer Brian Wilson opted against shaving his beard in 2013 when the team enquired about his availability, and AL Cy Young Award winner David Price said the same year that he would not play for the Yankees while the policy was in place.

The-CNN-Wire

™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.