Cory Lidle put together a successful career as a major league pitcher by living on the edge.
Not the hardest thrower, he worked to the corners. He also drew admirers for the way he won.
'Cory was a gambler. He always tried to take chances,' Oakland coach Ron Washington said.
Lidle (pictured) was presumed killed along with a second person when his small plane crashed into a 50-storey skyscraper in Manhattan.
The 34-year-old Lidle, who began his career in 1997 and enjoyed moderate success, recently completed perhaps his most troubling season in the majors. He got into spats with the two teams he played for, the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. Once the Yankees were eliminated from the play-offs, Lidle had something to look forward to - he planned to fly himself home to California. Lidle got his pilot's licence last off-season, bought his own plane and had made flying his passion.
'I'm proud to say I got my pilot's license this off-season, so I fly myself wherever I want to go,' Lidle said in a July 29 interview. He frequently said that piloting his own plane was safe, and in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer this summer, he said, 'The flying? I'm not worried about it. I'm safe up there. I feel very comfortable about my abilities flying an aeroplane. Yeah, it's risky, but no more risky than driving a car.'
Lidle said he was sure the Yankees weren't happy about the plane, but added that no one in the organisation had said anything to him about it. The topic of players flying planes is a troubling one for the Yankees. Team captain Thurman Munson was killed flying his own plane in Ohio in 1979, and his catcher's gear still hangs in a special spot in the Yankees' clubhouse.
