Derek Jeter is stepping up to the plate when it comes to debunking an old rumor.
The former New York Yankees shortstop broke his silence on a 2011 article by the New York Post that alleged he had a habit of sending his one-night stands home with a goodie basket full of Derek Jeter merchandise.
"I read the article," Jeter shared in the upcoming ESPN series, The Captain, per Us Weekly. "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!"
In the 2011 piece, a source alleged that "Derek has girls stay with him at his apartment in New York, and then he gets them a car to take them home the next day. Waiting in his car is a gift basket containing signed Jeter memorabilia, usually a signed baseball."
Roughly a decade later, Jeter is refuting the story that "became larger than life." Per Us Weekly, the Yankees legend unequivocally states that it "never happened."
But even though Jeter says it never occurred, doesn't mean that others didn't follow his false footsteps.
"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,'" Derek recalled. "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!'"
While Jeter has now spoken out on this 2011 story, the New Jersey native has previously shared that he avoided consuming the media that was written about him during his expansive baseball career.
"I was always scared that I'd see my name and then scroll to see what they're saying," Jeter told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "And I didn't want to deal with that when I was playing. I'd tell my family and friends, 'If you read something or hear something, don't tell me about it.' I didn't want to read negativity."
In the decade since being subjected to tabloid dating rumors, the former baseball player, who retired in 2014, married his wife, Hannah, and is now a proud dad to three daughters, Bella Raine, 4, Story Grey, 3 and River Rose, 7 months.
During his September 2021 induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jeter spoke about fatherhood, and how his priorities have shifted since his daughters were born.
"My girls, Hannah, Bella and Story, you know, this day puts an exclamation point on my playing career, which was my first dream," he said at the time. "You know, through you all, with you all, I'm living another one."