The five best beards of the Boston Red Sox

The casual observer who stumbles across broadcasts of baseball's World Series, which begins on Wednesday, likely will be impressed by the beards cultivated, as a team-building exercise, by the Boston Red Sox. Paul Oberjuerge examines five of the most impressive.

1. Mike Napoli: The burly catcher reminds Americans of photos of 19th century Civil War generals. Napoli's luxuriant growth seems to have a life of its own, and may even get some of the credit for his two game-deciding home runs in the American League Championship Series last week.

2. Jonny Gomes: The outfielder was Napoli's co-conspirator at the start of the Boston beard trend, even before the current season began. Gomes said facial hair is about sending a message. "Guys with beards and beards in general are pretty tough," he said.

3. Dustin Pedroia: The diminutive second baseman and 2008 American League MVP has worn a beard for several years, but it appears longer now. A writer at the website bostonmagazine.com wrote: "The Red Sox's record improves with the length of Dustin Pedroia's beard."

4. David Ortiz: The veteran Dominican known as "Big Papi" has worn a beard most of his career, during which he has hit 431 home runs. Ortiz is known for tugging on the beards of teammates who have made key plays. Said Gomes: "It doesn't hurt as much as you would think."

5. Clay Buchholz: Gomes said teammates with lesser beards can blame their parents for not passing on "the facial-hair gene", but Buchholz is making do with a sparse-beard/long-hair package that brings to mind Gary Sinise as the deranged Lieutenant Dan in the film Forrest Gump.