Cabrera's Tattoos?

That's a very good question. I noticed his tattoos showing last season and wondered the same thing; i.e., has some policy changed?

I don't think that this has been a SoftBank policy, but rather a long running NPB policy. Benny kept his tattoos covered with wrist bands while with Valentine-kantoku's Marines; and I doubt if Bobby had such a policy.

It seems to me that there was an article several months ago touching on the topic. What I recall of it was something along the lines that different cultures had different views regarding tattoos, so it made little sense to penalize foreign players (i.e. require them to cover the tattoos up) for having them.

I wonder if Gen translated such an article.

. . .

Yes! He did. Please have a look at these search results. I guess it was SoftBank-specific.

As I expected, Akiyama has a lot more sense than Hashimoto!

Tattoo rules in Major League Baseball rules have changed. In 2004 and 2005, Seattle Mariners' pitcher Bobby Madritsch had to keep his tats covered.

I don't know when the rules were eased up as players now openly display their tattoos.

The new MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement that takes effect for 2013 bans players getting tattoos with corporate logos.

I quite clearly remember him showing his tattoos during games when a member of Orix. He certainly showed them when not at the stadium, too - ran into him outside the stadium a few times.

It wasn't until he joined SoftBank that the tattoos became an issue. As others have noted here, however, I believe SoftBank softened their stance, as I have seen pictures of him in a SoftBank uniform without tattoos covered.