David Brown
Derek Jeter felt freedom for the first time as a major leaguer Tuesday night when Robinson Cano visited Yankee Stadium as a member of the Seattle Mariners. Forbidden from growing a beard by the New York Yankees‘ facial hair policy put in place by Boss George Steinbrenner years ago, a perpetually clean-shaven Jeter curiously walked toward Cano before the game and happily greeted him with a manly embrace.
Without waiting long, Jeter reached for his friend’s bearded face and caressed it.
Cano seemed to wonder if Jeter was making fun of him. No. It was adoration and, perhaps, some envy.
“Hey, I like it,” Jeter appeared to tell Cano as he put his hands over his heart.
Cano’s beard, seemingly styled after the chiseled look of Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, was another part of the strange uniform he was wearing in his return to the Bronx, his first visit since signing a $240 million contract with the M’s and turning his back on the Yankees in a most-surprising twist of offseason transactions.
Cano had a hit, scored a run, drove in another and stole a base in a 6-3 victory for the Mariners. He also struck out twice, to the delight of a half-empty Stadium, thinned out by foul weather and the threat of more. The crowd’s response to Cano was, mostly, to boo him — even if some of it was playful. At least one fan who didn’t want to deal with irony held up a sign that read, “Sellout.” Because all of those players the Yankees bring in play for free.
Jeter was nothing but happy to see Cano, though.
”I’ve gotten used to not seeing him here, but then seeing him in another uniform because we don’t play him in the spring is kind of an odd picture,” Jeter said.
Expect Jeter to grow a furry face when he travels the world next year, after he retires. He knows what liberty means now. Robinson Cano, its face, has shown him.
SD Yankee Report 