TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Don Zimmer made it very clear, again.

“N-e-v-e-r. Never,” the former Yankees bench coach said Sunday about repairing his strained relationship with New York owner George Steinbrenner.

“It’s actually sad because we were so close for 20 years or 25 years. But I’m a human being and I want to be treated like one. I didn’t feel like I was.”

“I’ve heard people say, ‘he buys people back.’ Here’s one he can’t buy back.”

Zimmer and Steinbrenner both live in the Tampa Bay area. They ran into each other at a restaurant during the offseason, but did not speak.

Zimmer made his first trip to Legends Field, the Yankees’ spring training home, since leaving the team and joining the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“It’s little strange,” he said.

Zimmer shook hands with Yankees manager Joe Torre and others behind the cage during batting practice.

When the Yankees took the field to start the game, shortstop Derek Jeter ran over to Zimmer, sitting on a chair outside the Devil Rays’ dugout. Jeter rubbed Zimmer’s bald head, as he did for good luck during their time together.

“Snuck up from the side,” Jeter said. “It was fun. It was good to see him.”

It’s always good to see Zim.”

Zimmer was hired in January as a senior baseball advisor after spending the last eight seasons with the Yankees as Torre’s bench coach.

Tampa Bay is the ninth major league club he’s worked for as a coach or manager in 33 seasons.

“It was nice to see him happy,” Torre said.

Zimmer said he talked with new Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli, who was on Torre’s coaching staff last season, and Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan several times about an advisor type role. But during that time, the Devil Rays called.

“I went to lunch and it all happened that quick,” Zimmer said.

Trading Yankee pinstripes for Devil Rays green may not seem like a logical move for someone who owns six World Series rings – four as a coach with the Yankees and two as a player with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

But Zimmer couldn’t wait to get out of New York because of his deteriorating relationship with Steinbrenner.

“I’m sitting on this side because of what happened,” Zimmer said. “It’s that simple. How could anybody not like New York with what we’ve done there in eight years? How can you have it any better than I had for eight years? But you move on.”

Zimmer will travel with the Devil Rays to Japan for a regular season opening two-game series March 30-31 against the Yankees.

AP-ES-03-21-04 1658EST