It began more or less as a joke.

More or less.

But with the entire world in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and as the field of contestants began to narrow, it became less a joke and more a matter of fan loyalty and fun.

…and hair

When Major League Baseball – and the entire planet – went into self-quarantine in mid-March, the brain trust at MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM decided to have a little fun. I mean, what else was there to do with no baseball – or anything else – right?

MLBNR came out with an on-going poll on social media giant Twitter where fans were given the opportunity to vote – in brackets of two – for their choice of who has the best hair in baseball – or ‘BHIB,’ as it affectionately became known.

For Dodger fans or for anyone who has ever laid eyes on him, their choice, and it really was no contest, was – and still is – 22-year-old Dodgers top right-handed pitching prospect Dustin May, who made his MLB debut with the Dodgers on August 2, 2019, at Dodger Stadium. Again, no contest.

May would go on to finish the 2019 campaign with a 2-3 record and 3.23 ERA in 14 appearances (four starts). He faced a total of 141 batters over his combined 34.2 innings pitched, striking out 32 of them while walking only five, for an impressive K/BB ratio of 6.40. (Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw’s was 4.61 in 2019, albeit over 178.1 innings pitched). May allowed only two home runs in those 34.2 innings of work.

As for that BHIB thing, the 6-‘6″ / 180-pound Justin, TX native and the Dodgers third-round draft pick in 2016 out of Northwest High School in Justin, TX has survived four preliminary rounds against a total of 32 competitors (including the aforementioned Clayton Kershaw) to get to the final round against 26-year-old Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson.

There is no disputing that Swanson, who was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the first overall pick in 2015 out of Vanderbilt University and later traded to the Braves along with Aaron Blair and Ender Inciarte in exchange for Shelby Miller and Gabe Speier, has great hair; outstanding even. But let’s be real here, Dansby’s mane simply doesn’t jump out at you the way that “Big Red” (as his teammates call him) Dustin May’s does.

Voting in the final round of MLB Network Radio’s Best Hair in Baseball continues through Thursday (April 32), with May currently holding onto a slight (57% to 43%) lead, with 10,263 votes having been cast through Monday night.

Stay tuned…

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