Derek Jeter doesn’t have time for decades-old hearsay.
In the upcoming ESPN docuseries “The Captain,” the former New York Yankee shortstop finally addressed the long-running rumor that he gave gift bags to women after having one-night stands with them in the ’90s, the Daily Beast reported.
The seven-part documentary tells the story of Jeter’s 20-year Major League Baseball Hall of Fame career and his life “on and off the baseball field,” according to a release from ESPN.
Throughout his decades-long career, Jeter made headlines for his sizzling high-profile dating flings after being linked to a long list of famous women, including Mariah Carey, Jessica Biel and Vanessa Lachey, before marrying Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Hannah Davis in 2016.
The happily wedded pair share children Bella Raine, 4, Story Grey, 3, and 7-month-old River Rose.
Jeter didn’t address the article at the time of publication but said he’s very aware of the story and revealed there’s not an ounce of truth to it.
“Yeah, I read the article. Yeah, of course,” Jeter said of the 2011 New York Post story that took on a life of its own. “You know, you see it, and then it’s like, how the fuck did people come up with this? You know, basically, that’s it. And who would believe this shit? And you believed it!”
“It’s a story that became larger than life. People keep regurgitating this story that never happened. Never happened,” Jeter added.
The story also alleged that he sent women out the back door of his building to avoid paparazzi and, from there, the baseball player would then put them in a car, where a basket of signed Jeter memorabilia was waiting for them.
The rumor spread so far that strangers would approach Jeter to tell him how they embraced the gift basket strategy in their own lives.
In the series, the five-time World Series champ dished on how the gossip led to a particularly cringe-worthy moment with a fan.
“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,” Jeter recalled.
“And I turned around and said, ‘You’re a fucking idiot!’ And the look on his face… like, did he think I was gonna say, ‘Yeah, good job, man!’”
The speculation didn’t end there.
In 2011, a source in the story claimed that Jeter had slept with the same woman multiple times but forgot, which led to the woman scoring the same fabled goodie bags twice without Jeter realizing his mistake.
“This summer, he ended up hooking up with a girl who he had hooked up with once before, but Jeter seemed to have forgotten about the first time and gave her the same identical parting gift, a gift basket with a signed Derek Jeter baseball,” the source said.
The source added, “He basically gave her the same gift twice because he’d forgotten hooking up with her the first time!”
The series will also reveal intimate details about Jeter and Davis’s challenging journey on the way to parenthood.
In 2017, Davis wrote on The Players’ Tribune, opening up about details of her marriage.
She explained that when she met him she wanted to “get to know him on my own terms” and not via information swirling on the internet.
“Derek and I met during the off-season, and I think that was a lucky break. It let us spend some time together away from New York. I didn’t have any preconceptions about who he was, and I didn’t need much more to go on than this: I had met the nicest guy, and I wanted to get to know him on my own terms. Not Google’s,” she wrote.
“The Captain” is executive produced by Spike Lee, Mike Tollin, Mandalay Sports Media, Excel Sports Management’s media arm Excel Media and Connor Schell, in association with The Players’ Tribune and Major League Baseball.
The series will hit ESPN and ESPN+ on July 18 at 10 p.m. ET.
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