The beard, flecked with white, didn’t last. Chris Colabello, the former Twin, shaved it before the Kansas City T-Bones, his current team in the independent American Association, left town after last weekend’s series with the St. Paul Saints. 

He also coaxed a teammate into giving him a haircut, reviving the modified Mohawk he sported with the Toronto Blue Jays, his last major-league club. (Meager independent ball salaries mean everyone tries to save a buck.) Soon Colabello will rejoin the Italian national team, which he played for twice at the World Baseball Classic, as it tries to qualify for 2020 Olympics In Tokyo. He wanted to look ready.