New York Yankees legend admits wearing team-mate’s golden thong to end hitting slump
New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter admitted that a golden thong helped him break a poor run of form.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the former captain of the 27-time World Series winners claimed a the daring piece of underwear helped rediscover his magic touch on the baseball field.
“It is the truth. ‘I’m going to ultimately regret playing this game, but let me explain,” the baseball icon began. “I had a new teammate that I played with in 2002, and he always had a gold thong hanging from his locker. And he told me, ‘any time you struggle, you wear the gold thong and you’re guaranteed to get a hit.’ Now I thought the guy was crazy.
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“So in 2004, I went through the worst offensive stretch of my career. And every day I’d walk in, he’d point at the thong. So finally I wore [it]. Now, it wasn’t thong to skin, I had shorts on underneath. So I put the thong over the shorts. First pitch, home run.”
According to the New York Post, Jeter and the Yankees were facing the Oakland Athletics in April 2004. He had gone 0-32 to open the season, but after wearing the tight undergarment, Jeter scored a home run as his side went on to win the match 7-5.
Though the Yankees didn’t win the World Series that season, Jeter recovered from his slow start to finish with an All-Star selection and his first Gold Glove award. Both Fallon and additional guest Rita Ora claimed that they had not previously heard the bizarre story, but Jeter has previously told the story and in fact, the thong owner has been identified.
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(Image: Al Bello/Getty Images)
Former Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi admitted in 2015 that the thong was his and that he’d given it to Jeter, his former teammate. “The golden thong is legendary. It’s never not gotten a hit,” Giambi said. “Well, it was just, you know, it was his first slump.
“I don’t think the guy’s ever slumped in his career. He’s unbelievable. You know, the gold thong, he had to get out of it.
“I never gave it to anybody. I would sometimes put it in their locker. I would sometimes start mentioning I’m going to give a gold thong if you don’t get out of this slump.
“Sometimes I would break it out because they didn’t want to wear the gold thong. And most of the time it just ended up in their locker. And anybody who’s worn it has gotten a hit. I just know first pitch, home run and the slump was over.”
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