The New York Yankees, a veteran Major League Baseball team, have had a ban on the team for years. However, owner Hal Steinbrenner threw out the bombshell news during spring training, announcing that the rule would be lifted. Recently, foreign media reported that Devin Williams, the star terminator traded by the Yankees in the offseason, may be one of the reasons for the boss to make changes.

The Yankees' beard policy has been in place since 1976, at the discretion of the late former Yankee boss George Steinbrenner Sr. Although the policy has been questioned by some major league players many times over the years, it is still rock solid. It wasn't until this year's spring training that current owner Hal Steinbrenner decided to change the rule because he realized the policy was "outdated."

The Yankees suddenly lifted the ban on beards, which surprised everyone. The Athletic reports that the Yankees' offseason exchange of star terminator Devin Williams may have been one of the reasons for the change of ownership. Before joining the Yankees, his most striking feature was his beard. After joining the team, he decided to respect the team's traditions and shaved off his beard. However, he also admitted that this policy will be one of the factors he considers in whether to renew his contract to stay with the Yankees after the 2025 season.

Williams said players talk about the policy before they join the Yankees, and some players aren't happy about it. Now that he learned that the rule was about to be lifted, he also revealed that he was both surprised and excited to hear that the team was going to make a change.

With the grand coalition labor-management agreement set to expire at the end of 2026, discussions on whether to implement a wage cap have reignited as new rounds of negotiations loom. In response, New York Yankees boss Hal Steinbrenner said he conditionally supports the salary cap system.

"I've said publicly before that I'd consider supporting a salary cap, depending on how much the cap is." "There's also a salary floor, so I think teams that aren't spending enough on their salaries to strengthen their rosters have to do more," Steinbrenner said. ”

When discussing the salary cap system, the Los Angeles Dodgers are often seen as imaginary enemies. According to FanGraphs' RosterResource, the Dodgers will have a team salary of $389 million this season, 17.5% higher than the New York Mets, who ranked second with a salary of $331 million, 35.1% higher than the third-place Philadelphia Phillies with a salary of $288 million, and 148.6% higher than the median.

However, the New York Yankees ranked first in the league in terms of team salaries for 15 consecutive years between 1998 and 2013. Between 2003 and 2009, there were five years in which team salaries were at least 50% higher than those of the second-ranked team, including 2005, when the team paid the second-ranked team a record high of 77.6% and 206.7% more than the median.

The day after Christmas 2002, Larry Lucchino, president of the Boston Red Sox, who lost the battle for Jose Contreras, called the Yankees "Evil Empire." After the Yankees traded Alex Rodriguez before the start of 2004, Red Sox owner John Henry issued a statement late at night saying that the major leagues should implement a salary cap to stop the Yankees from spending money on a spree.

At the time, Yankee boss George Steinbrenner Sr. responded that Henry was just not able to eat grapes and said that grapes were sour: "We understand that he must have been ashamed, annoyed, and disappointed by his failure." Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to give a little more for the Boston fans. ”

Today, Dodge is the new "evil empire" and is thought to be likely to upset the balance of the major leagues. In response, Andrew Friedman, president of Dodgers Baseball Affairs, said that no matter how much the team is paid, the difficulty of winning the championship is the same. There are already differences in revenue from team to team, and imposing restrictions will only stop people from finding ways to increase revenue, which is not good for the major leagues.

Friedman added: "If you look at the Yankees at the beginning of the 21st century, the gap between their team's salary and the second-place and median is even more exaggerated than it is now. Actually, I think in a way, the gap between the teams is getting smaller now, but somehow it wasn't a problem then, but now it's a problem. ”