Lidle Killed In Crash

[boxfan2015]

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

New Yorkers were relieved to find out that a plane crash into an Upper East Side Manhattan condo early Wednesday afternoon was not related to terrorism and was indeed an accident.

However, the news was not all good: one of their Yankees was dead.

New York pitcher Cory Lidle, who had come with Bobby Abreu in a July trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, was killed as the pilot of the small plane, and, according to CNN.com, so was his flight instructor.

Emergency responders found Lidle's passport in the street below, the officials said.

"It looks like the plane just flew into someone's living room," witness Sarah Steiner told CNN.

On a hazy, cloudy, rainy day in New York -- which, incidentally rained out Game 1 of the NLCS -- the plane reportedly hit the 20th floor of The Belaire, a tower overlooking the East River, about five miles from the World Trade Center.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference Wednesday that the plane left from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey at 2:20 p.m. The airport is 12 miles from midtown Manhattan.

Lidle had repeatedly assured reporters in recent months that flying was safe and that the Yankees -- who lost catcher Thurman Munson in the 1979 crash of a plane he was piloting -- had no reason to worry.

“The flying?” Lidle told The Philadelphia Inquirer this summer. “I’m not worried about it. I’m safe up there. I feel very comfortable with my abilities flying an airplane.”

Lidle, according to ESPN.com, told The New York Times last month that his four-seat Cirrus SR20 plane was safe.

"The whole plane has a parachute [that can be deployed in the event of emergency] on it," Lidle said. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly."

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was too early to determine what might have caused the crash

Lidle was a bit of a journeyman pitcher. He pitched 1 1/3 innings in the fourth and final game of the AL Division Series against the Detroit and gave up three earned runs but was not the losing pitcher.

For his career, he was 82-72 with two saves and a 4.57 ERA. He began his career in 1997 with the Mets. He also pitched for Tampa Bay, Oakland, Toronto and Cincinnati.

Cory Fulton Lidle was born March 22, 1972, and pitched 11 major league seasons. He leaves a wife, Melanie, and 6-year-old son, Christopher Taylor.

There have been several well-known athletes to have died in plane crashes, including the Yankees' Munson. Here are some notables, according to the AP:

March 31, 1931 -- Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach, in Kansas

Aug. 31, 1969 -- Rocky Marciano, heavyweight boxing champion, Newton, Iowa

Nov. 14, 1970 -- 36 Marshall University football players, in Huntington, W.Va.

Dec. 31, 1972 -- Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder, from San Juan, Puerto Rico en route to Nicaragua to aid earthquake victims.

Aug. 2, 1979 -- Thurman Munson, Yankees catcher, in Canton, Ohio.

Oct. 25, 1999 -- Payne Stewart, winner of the 1989 PGA Championship and a two-time U.S. Open winner, two miles west of Mina, S.D.

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