Cory Fulton Lidle (March 22, 1972 – October 11, 2006) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. A right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, Lidle played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, Tampa Bay Devil Rays,

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

from 1997 to 2006. Lidle was killed when the small aircraft he owned crashed into a residential building in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Baseball career

Lidle graduated from South Hills High School in West Covina, California in 1990. He was a high school teammate of future major leaguers

Jason Giambi Jason Gilbert Giambi (; born January 8, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. In his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, which began in 1995, Giambi played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yank ...

and

Aaron Small Aaron James Small (born November 23, 1971) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Small played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. Regarded as a ...

Minor leagues

Lidle was not drafted by any baseball teams, but he was signed by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He was released in 1993 and spent a season playing for the unaffiliated

Pocatello Posse Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...

in Idaho while bartending. After one season in Pocatello, he was signed by the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

. Due to his participation as a replacement player during the

1994 Major League Baseball strike File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, he was ineligible to join the Major League Baseball Players Association. In 1996, Lidle was traded to the

Major leagues

Lidle made his major league debut on May 8, 1997 with the Mets. He became a trusted relief pitcher that season, going 7-1 with a 3.19 earned run average out of the bullpen. Lidle had arm surgery in 1998. Lidle later played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays,

and

. His best season was 2001, when he achieved a 13-6 record with a 3.59 ERA (10th in the American League) for Oakland, helping the Athletics win the wild card. In August 2002, he gave up only one

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

during the whole month (setting Oakland's record for consecutive innings without an earned run),

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

all five of his starts, and was one of the prime movers in the A's historic run of 20 straight wins. It was on this Oakland team where Lidle earned the nickname "Snacks", for his apparent love of "inhaling" junk food in the bullpen.Michael Urban
"Chavez clutch in A's 17th straight"
from ''MLB.com,'' August 31, 2002. After the 2002 season, Lidle was traded to the

, for whom he played one season. In 2003, Lidle led the major leagues with 123 earned runs allowed and had a 5.75 ERA that was the worst among qualified starters. Lidle then signed with the

, who later traded him to the

. Lidle played for the Phillies for parts of three seasons, amassing a record of 26-20. On July 30, 2006, Lidle was traded along with

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Bobby Abreu Bob Kelly Abreu (; ; born March 11, 1974), nicknamed "El Comedulce" and also "La Leche", is a Venezuelans, Venezuelan former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies ...

from the Philadelphia Phillies to the New York Yankees for minor league

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

C. J. Henry Carl Joshua Henry, Jr. (born May 31, 1986) is an American former basketball and professional baseball player. Henry played in minor league baseball, minor and independent baseball and in college for the Southern Nazarene University men's basketb ...

, the Yankees' first round pick in the 2005 draft, along with left-handed reliever

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

, minor league

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

Jesús Sánchez, and minor league right-hander

Carlos Monasterios Carlos Monasterios Hernández (born March 21, 1986) is a Venezuelan former right-handed professional baseball pitcher. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2010. Career New York Yankees/Philadelphia Phillies ...

. After being traded, he criticized his former team, stating: "On the days I'm pitching, it's almost a coin flip as to know if the guys behind me are going to be there to play 100 percent." He noted his excitement to join a Yankees team that expected to win. In his first start for the Yankees, Lidle went six innings, giving up one run on four hits en route to an 8-1 Yankee victory as part of a sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays. On August 21, 2006, he went six three-hit shutout innings, completing an improbable five-game sweep (in four days) over the then second place

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

(who went from games behind to games behind). Lidle "became known for his outspoken nature, challenging the legitimacy of Barry Bonds’s home run records" in a 2006 interview. On October 7, in his final game (Game Four of the

2006 ALDS The 2006 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2006 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on Saturday, October 7, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a " wild card" team� ...

), Lidle lasted only an inning and a third, allowing three earned runs on four hits as the Yankees lost to the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, 8-3. He was criticized for telling a reporter, "We got matched up with a team that, I think, was a little more ready to play than we were," which was taken by some as a jab at manager Joe Torre. For damage control, he called the radio talk show ''

Mike and the Mad Dog ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' was an American sports radio show hosted by Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo that aired in afternoons on WFAN in New York City from September 1989 to August 2008. From 2002 the show was simulcast on television ...

'' and gave an extended defense of himself and the Yankees; the interview became contentious. In his major league career, Lidle had a 82-72 record with a 4.57 earned run average.

Personal life

Lidle was married and had one son. He and his wife, Melanie (nee Varela), were married in 1997. Their son, Christopher Taylor Lidle, was born September 18, 2000. Lidle was a descendant of

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

, the inventor of the steamboat, as reflected in his middle name. Lidle's twin brother, Kevin, also played baseball, as a catcher and pitcher for various

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

teams between 1992 and 2002, and for an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

team in 2005.

Death

On October 11, 2006, Lidle and co-pilot/flight instructor Tyler Stanger were flying a Cirrus SR20 airplane when it crashed into the

Belaire Apartments Belaire Apartments (also known as the Belaire Condominiums and The Belaire) is a mixed-use high-rise condominium apartment building in Manhattan, New York City. The 42-story building is located at 524 East 72nd Street between York Avenue and ...

complex at 524 East 72nd Street on New York City's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

, killing them both. The plane was flying above the East River past the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially named the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with the Upper East ...

toward restricted airspace. A strong wind from the east due to an incoming front caused the plane to be blown into the building as it was making a 180-degree turn. In addition to the deaths of Lidle and Stanger, 26 were injured in the accident, about half of them

New York City firefighters The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

. Lidle was the third Yankee to die in a plane crash. The prior two were catcher

Thurman Munson Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American professional baseball catcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees, from 1969 until his death in 1979. A seven-time All-Star, Mun ...

(on August 2, 1979) and pitcher

Jim Hardin James Warren Hardin (August 6, 1943 – March 9, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won ...

(on March 9, 1991). Yankees owner George Steinbrenner described Lidle's death as a "terrible and shocking tragedy that has stunned the entire Yankees organization" and offered his condolences to Lidle's wife and six-year-old son. On October 12, 2006, before the

2006 NLCS The 2006 National League Championship Series (NLCS), the second round of the 2006 National League playoffs, began on October 12 and ended on October 19; it was scheduled to begin on October 11, but was postponed a day because of inclement weather ...

game in New York City between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals, both teams and all spectators observed a moment of silence in Lidle's memory. The Yankees wore black armbands during the entire 2007 season in memory of Lidle. On April 2, 2007, Cory's widow Melanie and his son Christopher both threw the ceremonial first pitch on

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

References

External links

MLB.com Tribute Page
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