Copyright Staten Island Advance
Yankees legend Derek Jeter was mired in the worst slump of his career. He was 0-for-32. No end in sight. And then, after avoiding the possible answer for days, which hung in his teammate, first baseman Jason Giambi’s locker, he begrudingly accepted the solution. Here’s the story straight from Jeter, as he told it on FOX’s pregame of Game 6 of the World Series: “I probably shouldn’t be sharing it,” Jeter said before unloading. “Jason’s Locker was a couple down for me,” Jeter continued. “Took me a little time to get to know Jason, but every day I walked in, I saw this gold thong hanging from his locker. I don’t know him that well. I don’t want to ask him what the gold Thong is there for. “One day, I said, ‘Jason, man, what is that?’ He says, ‘Anytime you slump, you wear the gold thong, you’re guaranteed to get a hit.’ I went 0-for-32 (and) during that stretch, every time I walked in the clubhouse, Jason’s pointing at the thong. Finally, now listen, I have shorts on. I put the thong on top. First pitch home run off Barry Zito. ... Now I have never in my career run around the bases that fast because I thought everyone in Yankee Stadium could see that gold thong." Upon completing the story, his Yankees and FOX Sports teammate, Alex Rodriguez, burst into laughter. “That’s a great story,” Rodriguez said. Red Sox legend David Ortiz took it a step further. He whipped out a golden thong from underneath the desk and laid it in front of Jeter. More laughter. The legend of the golden thong was hearsay for a long time. After Jeter’s confirmation, it’ll go down as one of the great slump busting stories in Yankees history.
