You can let your freak flag fly if you play for the New York Yankees.

Or at least grow a cool beard.

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The Yankees can grow their hair out now thanks to a massive rule change[/caption]

One of the most storied teams in pro sports stunned fans and Major League Baseball historians on Friday by making a major announcement at an unexpected time.

For almost five decades, the Yankees have prevented their players from having facial hair.

That all changed with a simple but huge tweet from a franchise that is valued at $7.5billion and has won a record 27 World Series championships.

“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner said.

“These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward.”

Since the free-flowing 1970s, the Yankees had prevented facial hair, outside of a well-trimmed mustache.

That was drastically altered on Monday, and fans had a field day with facial-hair comparisons.

“Bearded (Derek) Jeter would’ve won 8 rings,” one fan tweeted.

“A beard is adding 10 more HRs a year for (Aaron) Judge,” a second fan posted.

Another fan used a dual image of NBA star James Harden, with and without his famous beard.

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New York spent decades forcing its players to maintain a clean-cut image[/caption]

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Former Yanks great Don Mattingly could only grow a beard when he left the team[/caption]

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Jayson Werth’s beard would have been banned by the old Yankees[/caption]

The Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009, despite annually having one of the highest payrolls in MLB and being loaded with big-name talent.

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated New York with a 4-1 series victory in last year’s Fall Classic.

The pain became even worse when Juan Soto left the Yankees behind to sign a record-setting $765 million contract with the cross-town Mets.

But the Yanks are still famous for their pinstripes and baseball tradition, with everyone from Gerrit Cole to Don Mattingly having to adapt to the lack of facial hair in New York.

“Players, coaches and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar,” a team player manual once read.

“Long sideburns and mutton chops are not specifically banned.”

Hair still can’t be worn past the collar for the 2025 Yanks.

But sideburns and mutton chops could be back in, while Judge could now grow a massive beard to try and win New York its first World Series in 16 years.

Five decades after outlawing facial hair, times are changing and beards are back for a franchise led by legendary names including Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.

“Bearded Judge will be breaking single season home run record,” one fan tweeted.