I have to admit, I'm feeling a range of emotions today. Covering Cory Lidle's tragic death has been very sad, and troubling, too. I mean, I was there in the group of reporters surrounding him Sunday as he spoke openly with us about the end of the season, and his plans for the future. He had this way of really looking you in the eyes and slightly smiling when he spoke. It was very genuine and real, unlike many of the millionaire ballplayers we cover. He really was a regular guy. And to think, when he spoke with us that day, he had no clue that he had only two more days to live. So scary. So creepy. So sad.
My workday was spent compiling a profile of Cory Lidle, on and off the field.
Here is Newsday's complete coverage.
Comments (53)
Yes, I know exactly what you mean Jim.
He seemed like a genuinely nice guy.
I don't how some people can have so much hate in their hearts to say some of the callus things here.
This is such a tragedy, whether or not he was a Yankee was irrelevant.
We lost another nice guy and in such a horrific way.
God bless your soul and may you find peace Cory.
We will miss you.
I agree Jim he did seem very genuine...even when at the end of the season it seemed as if he threw the team under the bus he went on with Russo for something like 15 minutes to talk and explain what he really meant...like him or not as a person he will be missed...It hurts a little bit and reminds me of when i was a kid and Munson was killed...all those emotions from childhood came back hard when i found out...Cory I will miss you...My best to his wife, son and twin brother...and the entire Yankee family
Bob,
I think his death is a little more important than who's going to replace him.
If you want to be critical of us Yankees fans, fine, but don't do it in this particular forum.
I will be interested to see if the "union" does a thing for his family. If not then we should never hear "baseball family" again. Unless it's used in the same fashion as Gambino Family.
Just wanted to send my condolences to the Constitution. I guess free speech died along with Cory Lidle today.
Prior to his death, Yankee fans were ragging on Cory Lidle for his soundbites and ineffectiveness. Suddenly we're hearing "he was a great guy, he'll be missed, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah". Let's get real here, people. By next week, no one is going to care, and life as we know it will go on.
Why didn't Bud Selig and MLB show some guts by cancelling the Tigers/A's game...Fortunately the Mets/Cards game was rained out, thus sparing Bud Selig, MLB and the FOX network the disrespectful decision to play the game within miles of a horrific tragedy.
are you still in 3rd grade bob?
Grow up
Very well put Ken. My wife and I were saying recently that whenever we saw him, he gave you that sense that he was just a good guy. As for Bob & Anonymous(Bob?), you really got problems. Seriously - grow up and get off this blog. Very disrespectful!
If this is really painful?
Hard to cope with?
Difficult?
Hard on the family?
Sad?
A traumatic event?
Unbearable and "creepy"?
A tragic loss of the heart?
Emotionally devastating.
Then why does newsday display the
photos of the crash site?
Why the video as well?
Why show them at all,
if it is so painful boys?
Why the paradox Jim?
(PLEASE EDIT THIS ONE AS WELL JIM)
Can someone answer this one question: In light of 9/11, why the hell was a plane able to fly over New York?
Bart, I am assuredly NOT Bob; I can spell and I know when to capitalize words. That being said, I have two points:
(1) Last time I checked, this wasn't a police state, and if I want to come on here and say something, I have the right to do so, whether you or some other lily-livered pansy likes it or not.
(2) Don't worry, Jim Baumbach has spent overtime working on censoring whichever comments he doesn't agree with, so chances are in a day or two Jimmy Boy will remove the comments. It's nice to know that Newday doesn't believe in freedom of speech.
Quick question, Poppy: Why should MLB have cancelled the playoffs? Cory Lidle was a marginal player on the Yankees. Why should the playoffs be cancelled over a nobody like that? Cancelling all games after 9/11 was proper. 9/11 was an atack on all of us, not just New York. Cory Lidle flew into a building; give him his props, have a moment of silence, and let's play ball! No need to deprive the people of Detroit and Oakland, and the rest of Ameria, because of Cory Friggin' Lidle.
In fact, had it been a scrub from the Royals or the Devil Rays who had flown his plane into a building, I can just imagine the outrage from Yankee fans who would be screaming for Selig's head if their precious Yankees had a game cancelled in honor of a non-Yankee. That's the problem with you people; you think the entire world revolves around the Yankees. I understand that he has friends and a family, but in the grand scheme of things, Cory Lidle was and always be a mediocre player who made no impact on the sport; cancelling ANYTHING in his honor would be absurd.
To Long Live Free Speech:
Some posts get automatically "junked" by the filter on the blogs. We go through the "Junk Comments" section as often as we can, but there isn't time to check constantly. When we see something that isn't spam, we publish it, unless it's libelous, racist, obscene, etc. Just give us a little time. We have problems with obscene spam getting through occasionally (as I'm sure you've noticed), and we had to bump up the settings on the filters. Have some patience. Thanks.
Jim Baumbach, if you would like to do something for Cory Lidle?
Or his family?
Why not use this very forum to petition Newsday to DROP the accident photos,
To DROP the video stream.
It is easy to speak of something but why not say something about that,sir?
Wouldn't that be a better action than waxing poetic and editing comments.
I know I am an idiot.
But I would like to see your words expressing that.
Jim, the forum is yours.
Newsday has this available.
Your initial reactions are public and here for us to read.
That would be a good thing for you to write about HERE,
it would show a lot more than a word.
Hi, I just want to express my deepest sympathy for the Lidle family. This is truly a sad time. May God bless his family!
you know this is my first time on this page, i am s red sox's fan and I COME IN PEACE! But, i must say that i am completely shocked by some of the comments made. some of you "yankee fans" make me sick. he may have only been a yank for a short time but an innocent life was taken...that is something more than a baseball player..he was a father and husband. you should show some respect for his family and shut up!
Samantha (NICE FAKE NAME)
But you should have read the comments that were edited dear.
OOOOOPS. sORRY,I spilled the beans about Newsday censorship and how they are
milking the death of Cory Lidle their profit.
READ JIM BAUMBACH'S WORDS IN THIS SEGMENT, READ THE LAST SEGMENT TOO.
NOW GO LOOK AT THE BURNING PLANE
ON THE FRONT PAGE.
AND CHECK OUT THE REALLY HOT VIDEO LINK THEY HAVE.
THEN, COME BACK AND TELL US
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JIM'S WORDS......
AND NEWSDAY PROFITTING FROM THE IMAGES.
AGAIN ---HIS WORDS, THEN THOSE IMAGES.
JUST WORDS.
Wow, click the link up top.
RIGHT NEXT TO JIM BAUMBACH'S NAME.
GUESS WHAT YOU SEE BOY'S AND GIRLS.
YOU GOT IT, A BURNING PLANE AND ROARING FLAMES.
THAT IS BEAUTIFUL.
THE ONES WHO ARE EDITING
NEED SOME EDITING.
IF A FEW MORE PLANES CRASH
NEWSDAY CAN BECOME REALLY BIG.
JIM I GUESS YOU ARE TOO GRIEF STRICKEN AND BUSY CENSORING COMMENTS
TO NOTICE THE PLAN.
It's amazing how many crass, low-life people are taking precious time to post their absolutely absurd and selfish comments here. How crude of these people to take the time and effort needed to post these nasty, idiotic rantings about someone whose life has been tragically taken at such a young age. Then you have the utter audacity to condemn Yankees fans and make outrageous FALSE accusations about their feelings and actions concerning Lidle. This disgusting hatred obviously stems from the jealousy you "people" feel towards the Yankees merely because the Yankees are a consistently winning team to a great degree and FACTUALLY deeemed the greatest, most successful team in the history of ALL sports.
I'm utterly amazed that the Yankees' success brings out the deepest, cruelest, vilest emotions among ordinarily decent people. Do you people not have lives? Are you retarded, immature or just plain ignorant? It's not Yankees fans who are condemning Lidle, it's ENVIOUS anti-Yankee scum who have turned into vicious monsters due to insane jealousy. I feel sadder for you insensitive degenerates than I do for Lidle. Keep posting your vile remarks so that Fate can deal with you and yours. Divine Retribution for your evil should be rewarded you ten-fold.
If you don't like the rules around here, perhaps you should find another blog and voice your hatred and inapprpriate comments elsewhere.
You also have a right as an American to change the channel if you don't like it's content.
You don't have a clue what censorship is.
Find a way to travel inside North Korea and Kim Jong Il will teach you a little bit about censorship.
Sometimes, a little decency is in order and it's people like you and these others who hide behind the "Anonymous" moniker who seek ways to trash a man who just died.
Learn some respect.
Oh, and as a reminder, this is just baseball. It's just a freakin' GAME, damn it. It means nothing beyond the baseball season. There's always next year for your team. So stop crying and whining about the Yankees' wins and losses, and start rooting for your own team instead. It might make you happier, more stable people rather than insanely jealous misfits who have nothing better to do than diss an unfortunate soul who has passed on. Come one, people. It's time to GET REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's time to GET A LIFE OF YOUR OWN rather than focus maliciously on a Yankees pitcher who has just died. Where are your priorities? Where are your brains?
Samantha, what makes you think Yankees' fans are posting the inappropriate comments? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to assume that it's Mets fans and other anti-Yankees losers who are posting the vile comments? As a Yankees fan, I resent and take exception to your false accusation.
Bob...you are an absolute moron. We are talking about a human life and you think yankee fans worry about that!???
I think alot of people have been forgeting to take their meds recently. Yes, free speech is important. However, some of these comments just do not belong in this blog.
It is a very sad day when ANYONE dies and it is not something anyone should joke about. Cory Lidle may not have been a great pitcher, but he has a 6 year old son that is now with out a father.
Have some decorum and maybe a little compassion.
What I find most amusing about these vicious posts crying about free speech and Newsday benefiting off the story is that the person writing it refuses to put his or her name on it. If you are going to make such claims, don't do it while hiding at the same time.
Frank D -- I disagree. The accident photos and video are part of a news event, and as a newspaper we have a job to cover it. There are people who get paid to decide whether the images are too graphic.
Ya I love all the cowards who post under anonymous...they sure have opinions but are scared to use their name...all they are, are;
"bed wetting mamma's boys"-Golic
This is not about baseball; this is about the loss of Cory Lidle, son, grandson, brother, husband, father, and teammate to many baseball players including the Yankees. Two vibrant young men died in a tragic accident. That is reason for this blog. I would hope in the months following this tragedy the families of both men will be able to look at these tributes- especially from a Yankee Blog- and save them to show Cory's son and the baby and as yet unborn child of his friend that NYers and Yankee fans are sorry for their loss.
I can't believe I am in here reading some of this garbage. Whether he was a Yankee a minute or 10 years is irrelevant, he was a person with family and friends who loved him. For those who show total disrespect for the life and death of another is disgraceful. What kind of person are you??? Are you any relation to Osama Bin Laden?? You have just as much respect for human life as he does.
We all have opinions on this horrific crash; mechanical, pilot error, Yankee, everyday joe, makes a million or makes a dollar, does it really matter?? Our society glorifies most who do not deserve it....that's a fact. But to say that in a week people will not care and its insignificant, I believe, is untrue. I truly hope people do not feel that way when the time comes for you or I to pass. A moment like this just proves that we are only here for a short time in the scheme of things and we should enjoy it and make the best of it while we are here. "Cant we all just get along??"
My heartfelt sympathy goes out to his family and friends. May Cory rest in Peace!!
Stop the "noise" about censorship, and Lidle being forgotten in a week, and thank whatever deity you may believe in, that there were only 2 fatalities in this accident.
This is just a bunch of kids making these vile posts for fun. I just can't believe that adults would post this garbage for a few laughs. They just don't understand what it means to lose someone, whether it's someone close or a sports figure, actor, whatever. Also, adults wouldn't post using anonymous names.
When the news about Jon Lester having cancer came out, I went over to a Red Sox blog to post my get well wishes for him in his really hard fight that he now has. I know what it's like to have lymphoma(sic) because my mother-in-law has just won a 20 year battle with this disease. I saw how sick she was and I know that Jon Lester is going through that now. I don't know the guy nor do I root for the team that he plays for, but i feel really bad for him and I hope he wins his battle and gets back on the field doing the job that he loves. That's what a decent human being would do!
As Yankee fans, we got on Cory Lidle for some of the bad games that he pitched. One game he'd be lights out, and the next game it seemed like he threw batting practice to the other team. As fans, we critisized him as any fan would. Look at what Mike and the Mad Dog did to him in his last interview. When they heard about what happened, the felt awful as an adult and decent human being would! All true baseball fans felt bad. I saw posts from Met fans, Tiger fans, red Sox fans, Blue jay fans expressing their condolences to us Yankee fans and the Yankee organization for this tragedy.
Bob mentioned that it was pilot error and he could have killed thousands. That's a true statement. However, it could have easily been one of us killing someone on the freeway because we made a mistake. Wouldn't you feel awful if that happend Bob and you were the cause of the accident? I know that I would!
I'm sorry. I forgot to post my name for the previous blog.
Jim Baumbach: What difference does it make whether someone makes a comment about free speech anonymously? Is putting a name to the comment going to make it more legitimate? What, because the comment was made anonymously, whatever legitimate points it raises are invalid? I can just imagine the thought process involved: "That comment was made by 'Bob', so that means it's more legitimate than one made by 'anonymous'". Maybe you can explain how that works? Because for all intents and purposes, EVERYONE on this board is anonymous, from "aa", "Poppy", "LAS", and "anaconda", right on down to "Aaron" and "Bob" and "Erick" and "Samantha", who just sign with their alleged first names and nothing else. Not surprisingly, I don't hear you complaining about people that post pro-Yankee comments anonymously.
On the other hand, after reading a couple of your articles, Mr. Baumbach, YOU may want to consider going under the name "Anonymous", if those pieces are a true indication of your writing skills. If they are, I suggest you try working a little harder at being a competent sportswriter first before trying to tackle more difficult tasks like deleting comments you don't like or dismissing someone's opinion because it's posted anonymously.
P.S. If it's not too late, you might also consider trying to get a refund from whatever institute of higher learning told you that you were prepared to be a "writer", because they lied to you. Badly.
If I offend you so much, why continue reading?
Jim Baumbach is a quality reporter and a good writer.
That is not the issue. He writes quality stuff, just go back and read in the archive. The issue is censorship and it's stated goal. Why do it and then show burning fuselage that was once a plane and a human being.
Jim, if it is kinda not your job to make those decisions--that is fine. I just see a paradox of your words, the pro-Cory Lidle censorship and then the repeated images being shown.
I thought since you had such an emotional stake in this, that it would have naturally bothered you.....as a reporter, or a person. This will be my last post on the subject.
Emotions are running high--fair enough. Jim is a good reporter.
I can remember back a few months ago when I started reading and writing comments about the Yankees. It was cool having the Yankee beat reporter relay some team events and report the games. It was especially enjoyable around the trading deadline. I left the Yankee talk back page because of the juvenile comments about possible trades and the disrepect for others comments. Unfortunately, this is occurring on this blog. If, someone has a different comment or is an obvious fan of another team, so what. You're not going to change them. A juvenile is juvenile whether 13 or 43. The comments about Corey Lidle's death are surprising becasue in one breath it could be us. We will not live forever and some bloggers have not been around the block of life with its unfolding events that make you think how fortune you are and unfortunate the other guy was. The best way to handle the people who write the trash is give them no audience just like they'll do to me. I appreciate this blog and look forward to the Hot Stove League reporting.
Amen Larry!
I just want to talk baseball, trades and look forward to spring training!
Jim: In spite of the nonsense that some people are writing, I want to thank you for the blog and giving us a place to talk about Yankee baseball. I haven't lived in the City for 10 years now and it's a nice place for me to talk with other Yankee fans!
It's lonely here in D'Backs country!
Mr. Armando Alejandro Estrada, I want you to know that Jim Baumbach is an excellent writer. Maybe your understanding of the English language is actually where the problem lies. Case in point, your comment -- and I quote -- "I don't hear you complaining about people that post pro-Yankee comments anonymously" doesn't make any sense. The people making "Pro-Yankees comments" are being respectful and decent; they are not viciously making any nasty comments that beg for deletion out of common decency for a recently deceased human being. While bob's excuse for his crudeness & rudeness is most likely due to his IQ, age or class, your excuse for being rude is probably because you "no entienda el inglés."
We don't know that Cory was reckless. They are still investigating. This is getting out of hand. A man died a few days ago please be respectful to his memory and family.
Everything seemed to be fine until the Yankees-Tigers series.
When they lost, all the Yankee haters came out of the woodwork.
This place has since degraded into nothing more than the garbage you see written on a trashed bathroom stall.
Getting back to Cory's terrible accident.
Besides the narrow flying corridor of the East River, I believe there is also another unfortunate explanation for the mishap.
I came across a website by an experienced pilot who warned of the tricky winds that very area presented.
This is quoted from that website:
"At the north end of Roosevelt Island, the East River dead-ends onto LGA’s air space. I always turn around well south of the Island, where the river is nice and wide. I warn the passengers of the G-forces and usually make a 60°-banked turn (it’s my sadistic streak – 45° is plenty to make the turn – but do brief your passengers on the turn or they’ll freak out). Watch the wind – it’s usually from the west, so a left turn is into the wind. Rarely, winds are from the east, however, and then a right turn makes more sense to keep the radius small. Remember, the turn takes 20 to 30 seconds and a 10 knot wind will displace you by 300 to 450 feet during that turn; that’s significant. Also, slow down before turning. The radius of the turn dramatically increases with speed. Make sure you announce well and look behind you before turning. Do I need to tell you to be proficient in steep turns before venturing into the East River? This is not a place to practice them."
Compound that with the flight instructor's lack of experience with the New York area and that pretty much sums up the cause.
Very unfortunate combination bad luck on that day.
Good bye Cory and
That was my post above. I didn't finish writing before inadvertently hitting the POST button.
Anyway, here's that pilot's website:
http://netlib.bell-labs.com/who/sape/pilotage/Hudson/index.html
Cory's instructor on the plane was Tyler Stangler. A Times article talks about his unfamiliarity with New York:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/nyregion/13instructor.html
And yes, Goodbye Cory and Tyler.
Well, bob, duhhhhh, if you were to die, then NYC would have one less moron to worry about.
Oh, and bob-duhhhh, in case you're not old enough to read -- or not smart enough to read -- the investigation is continuing, and there is no indication that Cory Lidle was at fault. But I'm sure that's not something you could easily comprehend. Maybe your mommy can help you interpret what I just wrote.
Those were wonderful posts, Eric. Thanks.
Interesting post by anonymous regarding a pilot's quote about making that turn by Roosevelt Island. Something obviously went terribly wrong there, and it seems as if it's a tough turn for anyone to make.
That anonymous post was me. I mistakenly hit ENTER before I finished writing.
Bob, the point is that we don't know if Lidle was at fault since the investigation results are still pending. Lidle evidently felt comfortable and confident flying, especially with his instructor in the plane by his side. I'm sure he wouldn't purposely have done anything to endanger the welfare of countless people.
Being a "cocky" athlete (IF that's what he was) doesn't mean he was a "cocky" pilot. The amount of experience he had says nothing about his degree of expertise. He could have been a better pilot than something flying for 20 years. I'd respectfully ask you to refrain from making unfounded assumptions. Hating the Yankees gives you no cause to debase and defile an unfortunate soul whose life was snuffed so abruptly at such a young age. At least show some respect for his grieving family members, who may actually be reading these posts. Thanks.
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