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Derek Jeter, The Captain, embodied the spirit of the New York Yankees during his time with the team more than any other player in the dugout with him.
Jeter was named the 15th captain of the New York Yankees and served as captain for 20 years from 1995-2014. He helped the Yankees win 5 World Series and was named to 14 All-Star teams en route to becoming a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
Derek Jeter finished his career with 3,465 hits whch puts him 6th on the all-time MLB hits list. But he had his slumps, as every baseball player does.
On Wednesday, Derek Jeter admitted to wearing a gold thong in front of thousands in order to break one of his hitting slumps. The Captain’s admission came during a game of ‘True Confessions’ with Rita Ora on Fallon.
Derek Jeter Admits To Wearing Gold Thong To Break Out Of A Slump
Derek’s opponents tried to guess if he was lying or not when he said “I once wore a thong, in public, in front of thousands of people.”
He then explained to Derek Jeter that in 2002, a Yankees teammate swore that wearing a gold thong would break a slump. Baseball players are deeply superstitious…
At the start of the 2004 season, Derek Jeter was struggling at the plate. Jeter says “every day I’d walk in, (my teammate) would point at the thong. So, finally, I wore the thong.” The teammate in question was revealed to be Jason Giambi in a 2015 interview.
According to TMZ Sports, the game where Derek Jeter wore the gold thong is believed to be on April 29, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics.
After hitting 0-for-32 leading up to his plate appearance, Dejer hit a home run off Barry Zito and broke out of his hitless streak.
Derek Jeter, his gold thong, and the Yankees went on to win that game 5-1.
Jason Giambi’s version of the story is similar. Speaking about Derek, Giambi said “the guys did it right. Hall of Famer, dated A-list celebrities. I mean, he finally got engaged, which I’m so happy about. You know, Derek Jeter’s a gold thong-wearer. He wore it one time.”
Giambi added “He had to get out of a slump. The golden thong is legendary. It’s never not gotten a hit.”
Here is Derek Jeter’s full apperance on Fallon: