So he summoned equipment manager Pete Sheehy to relay the message: No uniform for Gamble, an outfielder in his first season with the club, or any other player until they cut their hair and shaved their beard. At least, that’s how Steinbrenner thought. Now The Boss was back, and maybe the Yankees were, too, but first there had to be discipline.
But enforcement had grown lax while Steinbrenner served an MLB suspension for making illegal campaign contributions in 19. The rules, of course, had been an unofficial edict since Steinbrenner bought the club in 1973. It contained four rules: “No beards, No muttonchops, No long hair, No high stirrups.” At the bottom were the signatures of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin. Four days earlier, on March 17, the Yankees had begun trickling into a spring camp delayed by a labor fight, only to to see a sign tacked on the clubhouse bulletin board.
Rules, however, were rules, and The Boss was laying down the law.
