The imperious voice boomed from the speakerphone, its ferocity intact on the journey from George Steinbrenner’s mouth in Tampa to Brian Cashman’s ears at the old Yankee Stadium. The team had won on a getaway day, as it would many times during the 2003 season, but it hadn’t been pretty. In need of work, Mariano Rivera pitched the final inning with a lead too big to be credited with a save. As was often his habit in those situations, he gave back some of that leeway. The Yankees ultimately won, but not by enough. The phone rang right after the final out.



“You’re the worst fucking GM in baseball!”



Steinbrenner launched into a tirade. Cashman waited for an opening. He rarely shies away from speaking up, his confidants are quick to note, a quality that has guided him during two decades as one of baseball’s most influential executives. When he sensed a break in the tongue-lashing, he snapped back, reminding the owner of the...