Derek Jeter finally reveals the truth about legendary gift basket story
Derek Jeter is considered to be one of the greatest players in modern baseball, and is one of the most-loved New York Yankees of all-time. And in his upcoming seven-part ESPN documentary "The Captain," he finally addresses the famous rumors about his romantic life: that he gave gift baskets to one-night stands as a parting gift the morning after.
Those rumors originally surfaced in a New York Post story in late 2011, which claimed Jeter was "bedding a bevy of beauties in his Trump World Tower bachelor pad — and then coldly sending them home alone with gift baskets of autographed memorabilia." Emily Smith, the author of the story, wrote that the New York Post was contacted by a friend of a woman who had allegedly received not one but two gift baskets, because Jeter had forgotten he'd hooked up with her once before.
It's a juicy piece of gossip that has followed Jeter around for over a decade. In "The Captain," which premieres on July 18, he finally breaks his silence and says the story is completely untrue.
“Yeah, I read the article. Yeah, of course,” says Jeter via the Daily Beast. “You know, you see it, and then it’s like, how the f**k did people come up with this? You know, basically, that’s it. And who would believe this s**t? And you believed it!”
He continues: “I remember being at a Starbucks one time and there’s some random guy behind me and he says, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know that I’m giving out gift baskets because you did.’ And I turned around and said, ‘You’re a f**kin’ idiot!’ and the look on his face… like, did he think I was gonna say, ‘Yeah, good job, man!’”
“It’s a story that became larger than life. People keep regurgitating this story that never happened. Never happened,” he concludes.
The gift basket story was one of the most ridiculous and well-known pieces of sports gossip from the past 15 years, but now we've reached the end of its life. Its gravestone will read "Gift Basket Story, 2011-2022" and feature what is sure to become an iconic Jeter quote: "Who would believe this s**t?"