DETROIT - SEPTEMBER 16, 1950. Whitey Ford, center is congratulated by Joe DiMaggio, left, and Gene Woodling after Ford's six-hit shutout vaulted the Yankees back into first place in the American League pennant race on September 16, 1950. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
The Yankees have lost legendary Hall of Fame lefty Whitey Ford just before taking on the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5.
While Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Roger Maris bashed their way into the hearts of a generation that learned to associate the Yankees with the inevitability of victory, Whitey Ford was always the one to drop the hammer and cinch things up.