TR - thanks for the info on the earlobe. I think I'll stick with the natural look and not the big gaping donut hole for my own look.
This is really all semantics but I don't have a problem with a kid being themselves but I have a problem with them being different. To me being yourself is what it is. You have your own personality, likes, desires, wants and needs. You do the things you want to do without the desire to bring attention to yourself.
Being different means you want people to look at you because you have this need to be the center of attention. You dress funny, have funny hairstyle and / or say stupid things. Might be some narcissim involved as well.
As for this player who won't cut his hair he could fall into either category and we really don't know because we don't know him. I hope he falls into the first category and I hope he's not cutting his hair because he wants out of baseball but doesn't have the courage to tell his dad. Which brings me to my next hope - he learns to overcome that and be his own man. This attitude can serve him well later in life in whatever he chooses to do.
If he's doing it because he wants to be different then I feel sorry for him because he's in for a long hard life. People won't want to deal with him or help him out because they really won't like him. He'll be a jerk and pull chains because he feels like he can. He might be successful professionally but probably not as successful as he could be.
I went to college with a guy who was a character. He had a mullett, wore gym shorts everywhere at anytime (even winter) and basically made an ugly guy even uglier. He was who he was and he made no issue about him being different. He was that one guy everybody knew and everybody loved him. He was himself (which was eccentric) and he was the man. He became a lawyer and last I heard he had cut his hair, started wearing suit and tie. This is an example of being yourself - he wasn't trying to be different just for different sake. That is who he is / was.
Hopefully this boy turns out like my buddy did.