Leo: No Shave November

A friend of mine sent a Facebook invitation for participants in “No Shave November”, which I thought was  essentially just an excuse to stop using a razor for the next thirty days. Apparently, it is more than that. It’s actually become a fund-raising event to help fight prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men’s health.

Check out the “Movember” campaign website for some details on their initiative.

I don’t think the Clippers have much facial hair history, because as the New York Yankees top farm club for 28 years, there was a club policy against it. However, several players on the last two championship clubs have grown “playoff beards” for good luck in the post-season. It worked both times.

The first annual Columbus Clippers “Facial Hair of the Year Award” must go to (drumroll, please)… left-handed pitcher Eric Berger:

Berger struggled in Triple-A posting a 10.03 ERA in 11 relief appearances, but was never unnoticed when summoned from the bullpen sporting his handlebar ‘stache.

In honor of “No Shave November”, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best facial hair in baseball history:

Rollie Fingers – the original, throwback-style ‘stache

Brian Wilson – the “crazy man beard”

Jeff Bagwell – the scaled-down ZZ Top beard

Bert Blyleven – the perfectly groomed, never a hair out of place, beard

Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs – the ’80′s ‘stache

Congrats to all!

Send me your “best in baseball facial hair” to sleo@clippersbaseball.com

Clippings…

* The Clippers are the MILB.com “Team of the Year”. Danny Wild of MILB.com cronicled the Clippers re-peat season.

* Cory Burns was named to the Arizona Fall League’s “Rising Stars Game”, featuring some of the top prospects in baseball.

* Tony Lastoria of Indians Prospect Insider featured Burns in his “AFL Spotlight” this week.

* The Indians outrighted OF Trevor Crowe to the Clippers roster, removing him for the 40-man roster. Shin-Soo Choo, Josh Tomlin, Michael Brantley, and Carlos Carrasco were activated from the disabled list (there is no DL in the offseason). Cleveland’s roster now stands at 38 players. Carrasco will miss the 2012 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

* In case you missed it, MLB.com produced an article previewing the free agent market for every team. Here is the Indians outlook.

* Indians SS Asdrubal Cabrera won his first Silver Slugger Award, announced Wednesday. Cabrera hit .273 with a career-best 25 HR and 92 RBI.

* Chad Huffman is gearing up for the 2012 season by producing a big game Wednesday in Arizona.

* Lehigh Valley IronPigs Manager Ryne Sandberg will be interviewing for the St. Louis Cardinals managerial position, but will not be considered for the Cubs job. Mike Quade was fired on Wednesday.

* Happy Birthday to Brittany McKittrick of the Clippers staff. Brittany is the queen of the Clippers MVP Kids Club and can be seen chasing youngsters around Huntington Park on various occasions.

* Jason Kipnis has racked up another award. He’ll be presented the “Minor League Player of the Year” award by the Arizona Major League Alumni Association on Friday.

* The Cleveland Indians have released the Spring Training Schedule. The minor league spring schedules will be released later this winter.

I’ve once again emptied the “Clippings” bag, but I’ll have more goodies soon!