Home Run Derby

It seems like every single sports blog out there seems to have an article about some Beard lately.  Beard after Beard after Beard. 

Well, we’re gonna jump on the bandwagon too … Baseball’s had some memorable faces in its history. Some young and handsome, some unforgettably ugly, some clean- shaven, and some … a little more hairy.

Let’s take a look at ten of the more memorable beards in MLB history.  From the big to the small, the thick to the thin, and the groomed to the grizzly.

Bruce Sutter

Good God.  You really can’t tell where the hair ends and the beard begins on this guy.  It’s like a vertical halo of hair around his face.

This might be the best beard in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sutter finished with 300 Career Saves, most of them with the beard.

Rick Aguilera

This might be the most well-groomed facial hair on a white guy in the history of the Major Leagues.  It looks like it’s right off the box of a package of Just for Men.

Aguilera set up the Mets amazing comeback against the Red Sox in Game Six of the 1986 World Series by letting the Red Sox score twice in the top of the 10th inning.

Rick Sutcliffe

The Red Baron didn’t have the best beard, but it was red.  Gotta have a red beard on the list. 

And it contrasted well against the Cubs’ blue uniforms in 1984. 

Sutcliffe now rocks a goatee.  You can catch it on ESPN’s baseball coverage when he’s not drinking with Bill Murray.

Matt Clement

Sheesh - does every pitcher have a beard?

This is what President Abraham Lincoln surely would have looked like if he pitched in the Major Leagues. 

Chicago Cub fans used to wear taped-on fake beards on the days Clement would pitch at Wrigley.

Bill Lee

The eccentric Bill Lee, aka “The Spaceman,” didn’t sport the beard for his entire career, but when he did … it was fabulous.

It’s as if the Montreal Expos signed a Sasquatch to pitch for them for a while. 

And yes, this is the first mention of the Expos here at Home Run Derby. 

David Ortiz

Fear the Beard.

Another well-groomed face, but Big Papi likes to mix it up. The beard changes often.  Home Run Derby’s fave is the full chinstrap (pictured)

It’s probably the most clutch-hitting beard in the majors.

Jeff Bagwell

Hey Look!  A position player!! 

Bagwell sported one of the best beards in the history of sports and sports entertainment … right up there with Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.

Bagwell’s goatee was sometimes cropped close and looked very Chia-like. Other times it was 3 to 4 inches long (pictured).

Jim Kern

Replace those Texas Ranger duds with a top hat and a black suit and he’d look right at home in a Amish farming community in Pennsylvania .

Pitched very anonymously from 1974 to 1986 with the Indians, Rangers, Reds, White Sox, Phillies, Brewers, and Indians again.

Scott Spiezio

That little red thing under his lip really is a beard and not a parasitic caterpillar. 

It’s called an imperiale. 

And Spiezio’s probably more famous for that little red soul patch than anything else he’s done in his entire baseball career.

Except maybe the tattoo of his wife.

Alicia Rickter

The former Playboy Playmate who married Mike Piazza. 

Enough said.  She’s a Beard.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Hair, MLB Weirdness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.