Aaron Judge explains why he’s staying Mr. Clean even after Yankees’ stunning facial hair reversal

The captain is staying clean. 

Aaron Judge offered a succinct “no” on Saturday when asked if he would be growing a beard now that the Yankees allow him to after Hal Steinbrenner announced Friday he was changing the club’s longstanding facial hair policy. 

“I got drafted by this organization, so the very first day I was here, I’ve been shaving since 2013,” Judge said. “This is what I know, this is what I’m used to. I look around the building, look at old photos of the past legends and people that played here, they all followed that rule, so I just tried to follow on their path. 

“I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal until it got brought up the past couple weeks. I think the rule will be good. I think it’ll help a lot of guys. If it gets us a couple more players that’ll help us win games, everybody will be on board for that.” 

Aaron Judge will continue to shave despite the Yankees’ policy change.

Judge said he was “definitely shocked” about the change in policy that was instituted in 1976 by George Steinbrenner.

But he understood Hal Steinbrenner’s reasoning in not wanting the old policy to be something that would risk the Yankees’ chances of adding players that could help them win. 

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That said, Judge had a strong stance on players who might not have been willing to sign with the Yankees because they did not want to shave, though he said he had not heard of it happening. 

“If that little rule is going to stop you from coming here, then you probably shouldn’t be here,” Judge said. “If a little rule like that is going to stop you from doing your job, then I don’t think — I don’t know. So I haven’t heard too much about guys, it stopping them from coming here. But [Steinbrenner] dug in a little bit more than I did on that.” 

In his one-on-one meeting with Steinbrenner, Judge emphasized that he thought it was important to keep the franchise’s other rules in place — such as no hair below the collar — because they help instill discipline. 

“We definitely talked about that because that was one of my big things,” Judge said. “Rules, it’s all about discipline. Especially playing with the Yankees, this is a disciplined group. That’s one thing I learned all the way from the minor leagues up, you have those certain rules that teach you discipline, teach you a certain way. That was my big concern is, I didn’t want a lot of these rules to start changing. 

Aaron Judge on the field before the Yankees’ first spring training game.

“A lot of these separate us and make the New York Yankees the standard. We talked about a lot of those things. I just wanted to reiterate with him, ‘I understand the facial hair policy, but let’s keep a lot of these other things in check.’ ” 

It remains to be seen how many Yankees will take advantage of the new policy.

Devin Williams and Carlos Rodon both said Saturday they will be growing beards, but Judge, Anthony Volpe and Marcus Stroman have said they are in the opposite camp.

Others seem to still be deciding whether to jump into the hairy unknown right away, though there was certainly some more scruff than usual around the clubhouse Saturday. 

Aaron Judge will keep his clean-cut look.

As captain, Judge said he had “a couple people mention their concern or thoughts” about the old policy in recent weeks and acknowledged that it is his job to listen.

He said he tried to speak for the group when talking with Steinbrenner, who met privately with multiple players. 

“I just gave him my input on it and how I felt,” Judge said. “I gave him my input on what I felt a lot of the guys in the clubhouse might feel about it or what would help us. But at the end of the day, it came down to just both of us talking and being like, ‘What’s going to help us win?’ 

“If this is something that’s going to stop us from winning games or stop us from getting a player or stop a certain guy from not performing their best, then why would we put that in the way of what our ultimate goal is? That ultimately was the big decision maker right there.”