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1959 was an odd year for the New York Yankees. After winning it all in 1958, the team had basically the same personnel as it did the season before. The team never gelled in 1959 and they came a in a distant third place, fifteen full games behind the Chicago White Sox. They would go on again to win the pennant in 1960, but 1959 was not their season. Bob Turley had won the Cy Young Award in 1958 and had won 21 games. With basically the same peripherals, his ERA rose a run and a half and he won only eight games in 1959. Role players such as Andy Carey and the aged Enos Slaughter were great in 1958 but fell on hard times in 1959. Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra were still producing, but were slightly off their best that season. The season started promising enough. As morning dawned on April 22, 1959, the Yanks were at 6-3 and only two games out of first. And on that Wednesday, their best pitcher, Whitey Ford, would take the mound against the Washington Senators, a bad team that was off to a 3-7 start. The Yankees would prevail that day, but it took a long time and Ford would have to pitch the best game of his career.

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