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Brewers’ DiFelice a hit in bullpen, and as team barber

MILWAUKEE — Ken Macha has become accustomed to calling on dependable reliever Mark DiFelice to help get out of jams this season.

But the Milwaukee Brewers’ manager recently summoned DiFelice to escape a different kind of mess: a bad haircut.

As the unofficial team barber, DiFelice did his best to correct questionable work on Macha by a would-be Edward Scissorhands.

“They just cut one side too short and kind of got the ‘power alleys’ going,” DiFelice joked.

On any given day, DiFelice can be found in front of a sink and mirror on the outskirts of the clubhouse bathroom, giving a teammate a trim. He keeps a set of professional clippers with him at all times, home and away.

How exactly did DiFelice become the Brewers’ version of “Floyd the Barber?”

“My grandmother was a hairdresser and my aunt owns a hair salon now. I guess you can say it’s in my blood,” said DiFelice.

DiFelice first tried his hand at hair-cutting at Western Carolina University. He and his dorm roommate didn’t have money for professional haircuts, so they bought a cheap pair of clippers.

“We started cutting each other’s hair,” recalled DiFelice.

“The first year we were pretty much bald. We’d try to give each other a nice cut but we were so bad we ended up shaving it all off.

“I started getting good and he continued to mess my hair up, so I started cutting my own hair.”

Once word got around the Brewers’ clubhouse that DiFelice knew his way around a pair of clippers, teammates started lining up for haircuts.

The 32-year-old right-hander stops short of asking for appointments but tries to accommodate everyone.

DiFelice, making a tad more than the rookie salary of $400,000, doesn’t charge for haircuts. On occasion, he’ll find a tip in his locker or some other accommodation.

The obvious question is why players, with all of their money, don’t go to a professional salon and pay to have their hair cut. The answer is two-fold: convenience and familiarity.

“It’s easier to do it at the park than scheduling an appointment and going there, then making sure you’re here on time,” said DiFelice.

“It’s easy for these guys because they can tell me exactly what they want. Another stylist would cut their hair the way (the stylist) thinks it should be cut.

“I work on a free basis. It’s basically therapeutic for me. It gets my mind off baseball for a little bit. I get to actually talk to the guys while I’m cutting their hair.”

Just how proficient is DiFelice as a barber?

“He’s good,” said leftfielder Ryan Braun, one of DiFelice’s regulars. “I wouldn’t continue to get my hair cut by him if he wasn’t good. It’s all about convenience and comfort.”

DiFelice brags that he hasn’t had a complaint in “about nine years,” which if you know ballplayers, is quite an accomplishment.

It makes sense that his best pitch is a “cut” fastball.

In 21 appearances, DiFelice has fashioned a 3-0 record and impressive 1.25 earned run average. He has allowed runs in only three outings and has held opponents to a puny .190 batting average.

As for the possibility that a teammate might not be completely satisfied with DiFelice’s in-house work, he refers to the oldest joke in the barber’s handbook.

“You know what they say the difference is between a good haircut and a bad haircut?” he asks. “Two weeks.”