Lidle's Death Stuns Baseball

Focus on Postseason Jolted by 'Tragic Passing'

At Shea Stadium in New York, where Cory Lidle broke into the major leagues in 1997, and at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum, where he enjoyed the best season of his career in 2001, the sweet exhilaration of playoff baseball was jolted yesterday afternoon by the tragic news that Lidle had been on board the small airplane that crashed into an apartment building in New York, killing Lidle and one other person.

In New York, where the Mets and St. Louis Cardinals were set to open the National League Championship Series, rain prompted a postponement that nobody seemed to mind, while in Oakland, Calif., Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Athletics and Detroit Tigers went on as planned.

"All of baseball is shocked and terribly saddened by the sudden and tragic passing of Cory Lidle," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to [his family] on this terrible day."

Lidle, who was 34, was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the New York Yankees late this season. He had former teammates scattered across the Detroit and St. Louis rosters as well. Many of those former teammates -- some of whom knew Lidle's wife, Melanie, and 6-year-old son, Christopher -- were visibly shaken by the news, and struggled to prepare themselves properly to play baseball.

"It's going to be so hard," said A's third baseman Eric Chavez, a former teammate of Lidle's. "But you're going to have to [play]. It's so funny. We're getting reminded of how valuable life is."

Prior to the first pitch in Oakland, fans and players were asked by the public address announcer to observe a moment of silence to remember "a member of the baseball family, and former Oakland A's pitcher, Cory Lidle."

"There [are] a few of us that played with him [in Oakland] in '01 and '02, but more than that, we're like a big family -- guys in the major leagues," A's pitcher Barry Zito said. "So, regardless of personal ties, I really feel for him."

During Lidle's end-of-season interview session with reporters at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, he spoke of his love for flying and said he planned to fly himself back home to California in the next few days, with a few stops planned along the way.

Lidle had secured his pilot's license last offseason and bought himself a four-seat Cirrus SR20 airplane. In an interview with MLB.com in February, Lidle said being a licensed pilot reminded him of being 16 years old and getting his driver's license.

"You get this sense of freedom," he said. In the same interview, Lidle said flying was safer than driving.

"If you're 7,000 feet in the air and your engine stops, you can glide for 20 minutes," he said. "As long as you're careful, everything should be fine. . . . Flying a plane isn't dangerous. The people up there flying know what they're doing."

It was not known if Lidle was at the controls of the plane at the time of the accident.