SAN DIEGO — Perched atop a dugout bench at Petco Park on Monday, Angels manager Phil Nevin smiled when asked about a 2002 phone call that quietly cemented him into Padres history.
Wheeling, dealing San Diego GM Kevin Towers had been burning up the phone lines with the Reds, trying to scoop up All-Star Ken Griffey Jr. Cincinnati was open to the conversation as long as it involved Nevin, a 2001 All-Star.
The deal lacked only ink.
"That's true," said Nevin, with a knowing grin. "Thanksgiving Day. (Former Reds manager) Bob Boone called me. I thought he was going to say Happy Thanksgiving because I grew up around the family. He asked if I'd come play for him. I said, 'No, I just signed a deal with the Padres.'
"He said, 'Well, we traded for you, but you have to OK it.' I didn't OK it."
Nevin has led the Angels to within striking distance of an AL wild-card spot, an 18-game turnaround from a season ago entering this week's series with the Padres. He's tasked with propelling the franchise to the postseason, a place it has not been since 2014.
Ratcheting up the Rolaids-gobbling reality of that assignment: Nevin manages two-way megastar Shohei Ohtani, the best player on earth with all the uncharted lunacy that comes with him, along with some guy named Mike Trout.
Here you go. Don't screw it up.
"I get to talk about two of the best players in the world each day," said Nevin, who played infield and outfield for the Padres across seven seasons. "It's something that never gets old. I'm not naïve to the fact most first-year managers don't get this opportunity with the roster I've had, so I'm blessed.
"But pressure and the stuff that comes down on people who feel that, it means you're not prepared well enough. My staff has our guys prepared every day."
Though Nevin owns perhaps the most interesting managerial job in baseball, he is forever intertwined with the game in San Diego. Nevin was interviewed for the Padres' managerial opening when Andy Green was handed the keys in 2016.
The storybook setup lacked the storybook finish.
"It was a little different because the first phase of the interview was (former players) Mark Loretta, Trevor Hoffman and (Assistant General Manager) Fred Uhlman (Jr.)," Nevin said. "All of them are really close friends of mine, so it was kind of odd.
"When I got to the end, I wasn't sure if I'd have that opportunity or not. But I was fine with that, although I did want to (land the job). It's all worth it now because of where I'm at and the position I'm in."
Nevin became known for the bonfire in his belly as a player. He's been just as combustible early in his career patrolling the dugout. He's on extremely small-sample-sized pace to nearly double the career ejections in as many games as active managerial leaders Bruce Bochy and current Padres boss Bob Melvin.
Winning, then and now, is the thing — style points be damned.
"It's a hard sell sometimes," Mark Sweeney, Nevin's former Padres teammate, said of explaining a treasured friendship. "I've had plenty of people come up to me and say, 'I don't really care for Nev.' I say listen, you have to earn his trust. He's very loyal to the people he trusts.
"He was very unselfish, but brash and hard-headed. That's what made him Phil Nevin. That persona made him successful."
One ejection stands out to Sweeney most.
Driving to the park in the 2000s, Nevin called to say Bochy had asked him to catch for the team in a pinch. He had not crouched behind the plate with any regularity in a long time.
"I'm catching today," said Sweeney, play-by-playing the call. "I started laughing. He said, 'It's not funny.' He caught six, seven innings. He got tossed. All of us were like, he wanted to get tossed because he was exhausted."
Confirmed.
"It was my last game as a Padre, actually," Nevin said. "We had a couple guys down and Boch asked if I could go back there. My legs were shot by about the sixth or seventh. I was pretty close to being done in that game for sure. I knew exactly how to push the button to get out of there."
The stories roll and roll.
Agent Barry Axelrod recalled the time he waited outside the clubhouse for Padres client Wally Joyner. Nevin, coming from the weight room, asked if the deal maker had talked to his teammate.
In a blink, Nevin and Joyner ventured out, half dressed, with a piece of paper.
"We were on a plane back from Florida," Nevin recalled. "Wally, K.T. and I were sitting around playing cards. Wally brought it up, as far as me going to arbitration. They started writing numbers down. K.T. held it up and said, 'Would you sign for this?'
"I said I probably needed to speak to my agent about it. At the time, I was transitioning to Barry and ran it by him (in the hallway). K.T. didn't know he was my agent."
Axelrod analyzed the numbers on the scrap of paper during the hallway run-in. He said it seemed fair, but suggested they "add an option year, or some nuance like that."
"I got a call from Kevin the next morning," Axelrod continued. "He's hot. You son of a … 'You talked to Nevin, didn't you? He never would have thought of that.' He made the deal and I represented him from then on."
On Monday, Nevin spiced up his Padres legend.
"They did my second contract in a Jacuzzi in Napa Valley drinking wine together," he said.
Though Axelrod said there's a bit of storytelling flair stirred him, he acknowledged that Nevin's name came up amid the bubbles and bottles.
The Padres and Nevin. Nevin and the Padres.
"This (trip) has a lot of meaning for him," Sweeney said, "because he loves this place."
Nevin nodded.
"Being back here is pretty special," he said.
Special enough to nix a special trade.
