At Least Nevin Won’t Have Trouble Finding a Summer Job

Before he was a world-wise, aging minor league catcher in “Bull Durham” and a watery-eyed baseball naif in “Field of Dreams,” Kevin Costner was a Titan. It used to be a little-known fact--yes, a Cal State Fullerton diploma can be bartered for an Oscar and, yes, you can get to “Robin Hood” via Nutwood.

Costner joined Augie Garrido’s band of merry men last week for a dedication ceremony at Fullerton’s new on-campus baseball stadium, and before loosening up his arm for the first pitch, Costner was lending his hand to a few dozen autographs when he was approached by a student from El Dorado High School.

“Can you sign this,” Michelle Nevin asked as she handed over a baseball, “for a friend?”

Costner caught the baseball and, he thought, the gist of the request.

You mean you don’t want one for yourself, Costner half-teased and half-inquired.

No, Michelle Nevin insisted. “My brother’s going to be as famous as you someday,” she said, “so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of chances to get another.”

Ah, sisterly pride--as blind as love, no?

Not always. Not when the sister’s brother and the first pick in next month’s major-league draft very well could be one and the same.

Phil Nevin is a 21-year-old third baseman, built for power, nimble afield, and, most crucially, the right man at the right point in time. Today, the starting third basemen in the National League East are named Bret Barberie, Dave Hollins, Doug Strange, Todd Zeile, Steve Buechele and Dave Magadan. On any given day, the Dodgers’ starting third baseman could be named Dave Hansen, Lenny Harris or Mike Sharperson.

Wade Boggs used to be the creme de la creme at the position. Now he’s batting .250.

Matt Williams was going to be the next great National League third baseman. As of Saturday morning, he was hitting .214.

Is there a major league franchise in existence that couldn’t use the type of production Nevin has provided Fullerton this season--.394 batting average, 20 home runs, 70 RBIs, 17 doubles and seven errors in 50 games?

The Houston Astros, who hold the first selection in the June draft, couldn’t say no. The Astros have that pick for good reason--they lack good players--but one of the few positions at which they can glance without wincing is third base, where Ken Caminiti has driven in 80 and 72 runs in two of the last three seasons.

And still, the Astros have Nevin’s phone number on speed dial. “They’ve shown a lot of interest,” Nevin says. “They’ve said I could be their No. 1 guy.”

So have the Angels, who own the No. 8 pick and Gary (.235) Gaetti as their incumbent third baseman.

“That would be neat,” says Nevin, a lifelong resident of nearby Placentia. “I think there’d be a lot of pluses in going to the Angels. I’ve gone to Angel games all my life and I know about their third-base situation. I looked at their minor league system and they don’t really have a big presence at third base anywhere.”

For the Angels, Nevin represents an opportunity Costner would appreciate--a chance to rob from the rich and give to the poor. With a little less parental guidance, Nevin could have been a Dodger today. The Dodgers drafted him out of El Dorado in the third round of the 1989 draft and offered him six figures to sign.

“If it was up to me, I’d have signed,” Nevin says. “My parents were the ones who wanted me to go to school. They figured I’d do my maturing at Cal State Fullerton, which makes sense now, but at the time I didn’t know where they were coming from. I was disappointed. I grew up hoping to play for the Dodgers someday.”

Three years later, the Angels stand to gain, assuming that Nevin lasts that long, an assumption that grows shakier with every home run Nevin hits and every game Fullerton wins.

Already, Nevin is Barcelona-bound. Nothing’s official yet, but Nevin has spent the past two summers touring the world with Team USA in preparation for 1992. Consider him as sure an Olympic lock as Karl Malone.

Sooner than that, he could be Omaha-bound as well. The Titans, 37-15 and ranked seventh in the nation, are obsessed with the College World Series and have been ever since they tied for the 1991 Big West Conference championship and were deemed not good enough to qualify for one of the NCAA’s 48 postseason berths.

“That was a huge disappointment,” Nevin says. “I remember the whole team was watching TV to see where we were going to go, and we go nowhere. That’s been in the back of a lot of players’ minds this year. We’ve worked hard to get back in it, for us and for the seniors that left last year.”

Nevin’s campaign contributions have been as tangible as his batting stroke--12 months ago, his home run total was three--and as incalculable as his pitch to incoming freshman Dante Powell, a first-round selection by the Toronto Blue Jays last June. Nevin sat Powell down, compared signing-bonus stories and asked Powell how he truly wished to spend his youth--at Fullerton or Medicine Hat?

“He was offered a little more money than I was,” Nevin said, “but I thought he was the kind of guy who really could benefit from the atmosphere at Fullerton. Sure, he’s a great prospect, but a guy can get hammered in the minor leagues, there’s so much pressure. I felt that was the case with me and I told that to Dante.

“Basically, I just wanted Dante to feel that his reasons were right.”

Powell listened and Powell stayed and now the Titans have a .321-hitting center fielder with the kind of speed required to make the haul to Omaha.

“I’d like to think we can win it all,” Nevin says. “That is my goal. We’re in it and we’re playing the final game on Saturday on CBS.”

Bold proclamations, apparently, run in the family.

Michelle Nevin, by the way, did get Costner’s signature, but not without a bit of haggling. Going to be as famous as Costner? “OK,” said Costner, “I’ll sign the ball, but you better promise me your brother hits a home run tonight.”

Sure, Michelle said. Whatever it takes.

Sure enough, Phil delivered, in the fifth inning, to right-center field, as high as it was far.

“I had no idea,” Nevin says with a laugh. “I didn’t find out about it until after the game, when Michelle told me what happened.”

It was some night to be a Titan. Academy Award winner in the stands . . . 1994 NL Rookie of the Year in the field?

At Cal State Fullerton, you can reach for the stars.

And sometimes, even, after checking the price, you don’t have to put them back.