Access the Yankees beat like never before

Don’t miss Greg Joyce’s text messages from The Bronx and beyond — he’s giving Sports+ subscribers the inside buzz on the Yankees.

PORT ST. LUCIE — This had become like guarding the last Radio Shack with your life.

This was yelling to the heavens wondering why you were no longer being delivered a phonebook.

This was making the argument these words you are reading would have been produced quicker and cleaner on a typewriter than a laptop.

It was one thing if the Yankees were defending just the antiquated. But they also were defending the indefensible. What were they going to do when a player traded to them — thus, someone who did not agree to their team rules beforehand — refused to shave a beard? What was going to happen when the player pointed out that he might not have a choice of where he plays, but how dare an organization tell him what could be done with his face?