R.I.P. Cory Lidle

By Jack Jablin

Today, baseball fans and Yankee haters alike step back and mourn the loss of Cory Lidle. Lidle, 34, died tragically when his personal aircraft crashed into a 50-story New York high rise. He was only a member of the Yankees for half a season, but our memories of him pitching in pinstripes during the 2006 postseason will tragically be our final ones.

Lidle came over from the Phillies in an 11th hour deal, along with Bobby Abreu, as the Yankees attempted to shore up an already-impressive offense. Lidle settled into New York rather quickly, becoming their desperately-needed 5th starter. Lidle fought off criticism and attacks from his former teammates, namely fellow pitcher, Arthur Rhodes.

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble." Rhodes said in a an interview from early August. "He doesn't have a work ethic. After every start, he didn't run or lift weights. He would sit in the clubhouse and eat ice cream. ... He crossed the line when guys like me, Flash and Lieberthal were playing. He is a replacement player."

Lidle, who was a teammate of Jason Giambi's in high school, will be remembered for his epic 2004 season, where he tied for the ML lead in Shutouts, and tied for 2nd in the ML for complete games (of which he had 5).

Lidle had defended his right to fly ever since he got a pilot's licence. "If you're 7,000 feet in the air and your engine stops, you can glide for 20 minutes ... As long as you're careful, everything should be fine." said Lidle in a February interview. As recent as late July, Lidle faced critics from the New York Times, saying this about his SR20 aircraft: "The whole plane has a parachute on it ... Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it ... If you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly."

This tragic plane crash may be overshadowed by people drawing comparisons to the similar incidents of September 11th, 2001. However, this incident should not be remembered as the tragic downfall of a Major League Athlete, and for nothing more sinister.

Lidle is survived by his 6 year old son, Chrisopher Taylor, and his wife, Melanie.

Mournfully,
Jack Jablin

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