During his playing days with the Yankees, Don Mattingly was known as much for his iconic mustache as he was his play on the field, making his decision to enact a "no facial hair" policy as the manager of the Marlins a surprising one.

Adding more fuel to the ironic fire, Mattingly even made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in May of 2014 where he "reunited" with his long-lost lip curtain.

This isn't the first time the Marlins have had such a policy. They reportedly had one in place up until 2011 when then-manager Ozzie Guillen decided to get rid of it.

The reason for Mattingly's decision are known only to him at this time. Perhaps the idea falls in line with why many private schools (and more public schools) have dress codes, something Mattingly is certainly familiar with from his days at Memorial High School in Evansville. Keeping everyone uniform in their appearance may have a psychological effect that keeps them focused on the task at hand whereas allowing them to have something like facial hair may cause them to be inclined to groom in some wild way to express individuality which in turn could become a distraction. I'm no Psychology major, but did attend Catholic school for 12 years, so I do have some experience with the concept.

Whether or not the move translates into a better product on the field will be determined once the season gets started in a little over a month, but for the time being it's a humorous and ironic decision for a guy who at one time had facial hair as famous as he was.

[Source: Yahoo! Sports]

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