Baseball is back and unfortunately so is something else.
Watching the first few games of the new Major League Baseball season this week, it didn’t take long to notice it.
The baseball beard. Yes, those long ugly beards are back.
The good news is that most players don’t have them. The bad news is that many of them do.
There are a couple of teams that ban them but there was a day, not all that long ago actually, when baseball players didn’t have a lot of facial hair at all.
There was a brief craze back in the 80’s when some baseball players had mustaches and side burns, but the beard craze has been going on for a few years now and probably way too many years.
You watch some teams in the MLB play now and it feels like you’re watching the local beer baseball league in your town or a softball game at the family reunion of the Duck Dynasty clan.
But the beards in baseball right now seem to be a topic that no one in baseball wants to talk about. Announcers don’t say anything; baseball beat reporters never mention it, unless it’s something about it being cute. Really?
After posting a photo of one bearded player on social media this week, it didn’t take long for the beard lovers to defend them. There were also plenty of baseball fans who wish someone would trim those long beards right out of baseball. One Facebooker even reminding us of the nasty germy things that can be in those sweaty beards so be careful about getting that autograph.
But to those who say what’s the big deal about the long messy beards in baseball, just remember this is America’s pastime and is that really what we want it to look like? After all, it’s baseball, not hockey.