In his Dec. 24-25 column, Kent Ward sees a silver lining in Johnny Damon’s defection to the Yankees: he will have to shave and keep his hair short because George Steinbrenner “rightfully insists that his players look like and act like professionals.”

“Rightfully”? Shouldn’t we be about 35 years beyond this type of thinking? Damon is perhaps the best lead-off hitter in the game. His rock-star look became a trademark, and there has never been anything unprofessional about his performance on the field.

Though they are now scattered into baseball Diaspora, the rogues’ gallery that won the 2004 world championship for Boston was more entertaining, more fun to watch, than any clean-cut, buttoned-down troop of Yankees in recent memory.

Hank Garfield

Blue Hill