New team. New uniform. New stadium. New hair?
That's exactly the case for new Miami Marlins shortstop Jose Reyes, who cut off his patented dreadlocks for charity on national TV Friday — though not entirely by choice.
Reyes spent nine seasons with the New York Mets before signing a six-year, $106 million contract with the Marlins in December. However as part of his new deal, Reyes had to comply with a team rule prohibiting hair below a player's helmet line.
"There will be team rules," Marlins president David Samson said in December. "Everyone follows the team rules, whatever they are."
After his nationally televised trim, which aired on MLB Network Friday evening, Reyes' hair was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, which planned to auction the hair for charity on eBay.
"We never know (what an item will sell for), but we're keeping our fingers crossed," Make-A-Wish of Southern Florida Vice President and COO Richard Kelly told the Sun-Sentinel. "We've always said in the world of auctions it only takes two people that really want it. If we find those two people that really want it, I think things will go well."
Reyes, a four-time All-Star and the National League's batting champion in 2011 while with the New York Mets, had grown his famous dreadlocks since 2007.
"It's a little bit emotional because I've spent three years with this hair, but at the same time I understand this is a rule of my new team, the Miami Marlins," Reyes said before a barber from the Bronx, N.Y., who was identified only as Jordan, started the haircut. "I'm a team player, so I have to cut it off. It's for a good cause, too."
It's not the first time the Marlins have enforced a short-hair rule upon their players. In 2009, team owner Jeffrey Loria required a number of longer-haired players, including All-Stars Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson, to take a little — or a lot — off the top.
Reyes and his short hair will make their regular season debut at the brand new Marlins Park on April 4, when the Marlins host the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals.
