Yep, you can have Babe Ruth's hair. Thanks, Upper Deck!

Upper Deck Hair Cut Signatures cards will include a strand of hair along with a cut autograph for some of the biggest names in American history — baseball players like Babe Ruth, presidents like Abe Lincoln and other key individuals.



I'm not sure if I like this trend out of either company, but there's no doubting that these cards are going to be very, very valuable because of their scarcity, novelty and, at the same time, their significance.

We don't understand how they got the hair, and we don't want to know. (Or, for that matter, what part of the body it's from.) We're not sure this is a natural evolution for collectors, or the end of them.

Upper Deck To Release Cards Containing Hair [Sports By Brooks]

The rule banning long hair on the field was proposed by Kansas City. It does not require players to get haircuts, but does "require them to tuck it up inside their helmets," said Atlanta president Rich McKay, chairman of the league's competition committee. Polamalu is the best known of the players, most of them defensive backs, with hair flowing outside their helmets. Others include cornerbacks Al Harris of Green Bay and Mike McKenzie of New Orleans.

If enacted, this will eliminate one of my favorite plays in football: the grabbing-of-the-ponytail-and-slinging-to-the-turf tackle, which we saw in 2006 when the Chiefs' Larry Johnson did it to Polamalu during an interception return. There's also a rumor that you can do this in Madden '08, although I haven't personally seen it.

NFL Owners Consider Ban On Long Hair [The Sporting News]