Software Sales Dwonload

Cory Lidle, 34, husband, father, baseball player. A step back 2 days later.

Courtesy of FlickrCory Lidle, a major league baseball player, died Wednesday along with Tyler Stanger, his flight instructor, after Mr. Lidle’s single-engine airplane crashed into a New York apartment building.

These are the times when rivalries take a break and competition ceases as fans of the sport honor a talented player even if they would otherwise call him a bum on the field or cheer against him or his team. Mr. Lidle played for seven major league teams, ending with the New York Yankees as he was traded near the deadline with teammade and fellow Philadelphia Philly Bobby Abreu.

When New York was eliminated from the playoffs earlier, Mr. Lidle told teammates he was planning a multi-stop flight in his Cirrus SR20 across the country from New Jersey to his home in California. The 15 hour flight plan ended tragically 15 minutes after takeoff when the plane crashed into Manhattan’s Belaire condominium building.

Mr. Lidle will be remembered not only as a good baseball player, with 82 wins as a pitcher, but as a great family man. A father and husband, he also leaves a twin brother, Kevin. The two played high school baseball together with Jason and Jeremy Giambi, according to a CNN report.

The tragic accident stirred fears of 9/11 and a major media blitz of speculation ranging from terrorism to suicide. Unconfirmed reports spread around about maydays and fuel problems. When Yankees manager, Joe Torre, reported the plane did belong to Mr. Lidle, more reports spread out about people finding his passport on the sidewalk and an extremely sad looking photo of him circulated on major media outlets.

There were legitimate initial fears and suspicions, and NORAD even scrambled fighter plans across the country, just in case. The media response, however, did nothing to quell fears by openly speculating about terrorism in New York.

As it turns out, the weather was poor, there was a low flight ceiling, the plane may have malfunctioned, and Cory Lidle crashed in a terrible accident.

But it was just that.

In Sports on October 13, 2006 at 07:56

3 Responses to “Cory Lidle, 34, husband, father, baseball player. A step back 2 days later.”

  1. Mike Driehorst on October 18th, 2006 11:53 am

    John,
    Just passing through (courtesy of Marie at flackette.blogspot.com), and saw this post on Lidle. A Toledo, Ohio, sports blogger/columnist has a nice piece about the escape sports offers, and it includes a Lidle’s tragedy.
    http://www.futonreport.net/index.php/2006/1018073435/

    Take care,
    Mike

  2. Matt Sussman on October 19th, 2006 7:36 am

    Heh. That Toledo sports blogger is one of his editors at Blogcritics.

  3. John Guilfoil on October 19th, 2006 2:26 pm

    Yeah..i mighta heard of him…

    Great Article as usual, Matt.

Got something to say?





Creative Commons License Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional