TAMPA — The legend goes that if only the Houston Astros only had listened to their old scout, the Hall of Fame pitcher, baseball history — Yankees history, for the parochial sorts — would have been irreparably altered.
Phil Nevin knows all too well about the legend, which happens to be largely true. He shouldn’t and won’t apologize for being the lesser entity in the story.
And in a nice twist of baseball fate, Nevin now finds himself working for the same team that benefited most from that fateful Astros decision nearly 26 years ago.
“Derek, we were always good buddies on the field,” Nevin, the Yankees’ third base coach, said Friday of Derek Jeter.