There's no green hair in Oberlin baseball

Issues raised with the manic-panicking of a player's hair

First-year Daniel Romano is no longer a member of the baseball team following a disagreement between Romano and Coach Tom Mooney about Romano's dyed-green hair.

According to Romano, he was told he would be cut from the team and not allowed to accompany the team to Florida for spring break unless he washed the Manic-Panic dye out of his hair. "He said I would not be able to participate with green hair. He gave me two choices, either wash it out or don't go. At that point I couldn't wash it out and was sick of this shit, so I didn't go."

Romano said he was cut from the team after spring break, even after he had bleached his hair back to its normal color. "At the first practice [after break] he called me over and said he'd been discussing 'my stunt' with his superiors and then told me to turn in my hat and uniform because I was no longer on the team."

When asked to give his side of the story and a reason for Romano's dismissal, Mooney said, "I don't feel I need to. When it happened I didn't say anything. I consulted my superiors who consulted their superiors. Everyone is in 100 percent agreement with this decision."

Athletic Director Don Hunsinger supported Mooney, though not because he disapproves of green-hair. "It could be a problem for individual coaches; and whatever their personal policies are, I will support them."

Mooney said Romano was told at the beginning of the season about Mooney's personal-appearance policy. "He knew how I felt about this but did it anyway," Mooney said.

Romano said Mooney's reason was because it "was an attempt to put myself ahead of the team."

Mooney said it is "important to understand that baseball is a team sport, not an individual sport. I have to worry about a team."

Both Hunsinger and Mooney seem to think that because Romano did not accompany the team to Florida -- Romano said Mooney did not permit him to go -- he had effectively sealed his own fate. "The player made his own decisions in this," Mooney said.

Though Mooney and Hunsinger would not explain their version of the incident, they both seem to think that Romano decided to leave the team on his own. "He was not cut, he left of his own accord," Hunsinger said.

"He was never told he couldn't accompany the team on the trip," Mooney said.

Whatever the circumstances and whether Romano was left or cut, there was a definite issue raised with Mooney at the dying of Romano's hair. "He was unhappy with my hair color," Romano said.