The year 2006 was full of ups and downs for New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. Lidle, who had just entered his ninth major league season was suiting up for the Philadelphia Phillies in hopes of helping the National League East team contend for the division title, a mighty feat to ask of a player on a team that included the Atlanta Braves, who had won the title pretty much since the beginning of time, and the New York Mets.

In a sudden change of events, Lidle was dealt along with outfielder Bobby Abreu to the New York Yankees at the trade deadline, a move that nearly propelled the Phillies in the playoffs from what had been the bleaker parts of the National League standings and allowed Lidle to pitch in the playoffs with New York, who won the American League East title. Unfortunately for the newly-acquired Yankees pitcher, New York was booted from the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers in what has been called one of the biggest shocks baseball has seen since the last major Yankees collapse back when the Boston Red Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit in the 2004 American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series.

Lidle's Yankees had been eliminated and the pitcher said that he planned to fly home to southern California in the Cirrus SR20 single-engine plane he purchased and had recently learned to fly.

The plane never got out of the New York City airspace as Lidle was killed yesterday as his plane flew into a 50-story apartment building by accident. The news of the crash spread quickly through the news and radio stations, prompting the Pentagon to scramble jets into the airspaces of some of America's more prominent cities. Only hours later did the news leak out that Lidle had been the in the plane when it crashed, also killing Tyler Stanger, Lidle's flying instructor.

It is currently unclear as to how the crash ended up taking place. Witnesses noted that the plane was flying erratically before it blew into the building and was taking a scenic route through New York to view the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Lidle was an avid fan of flying planes and had been quoted in the past of being very confident in his piloting abilities. He was also known for being a good clubhouse player and his recent call to defend manager Joe Torre after the Yankees' collapse. His career finished with a record of 82-72 with an ERA of 4.57, 838 strikeouts, 277 appearances, 199 starts, 11 complete games and five shutouts in 1322.2 innings pitched.

Lidle joined the Phillies in 2004 after being traded by the Cincinnati Reds to Philadelphia. Prior to that, Lidle had been with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Oakland Athletics, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Mets. His best season arguably came in 2001 with Oakland when he went 13-6 with an ERA of 3.59, 118 strikeouts and one complete game in 29 starts (188.0 innings).

Immediate sympathy came from the Yankees organization, namely Torre, general manager Brian Cashman and owner George Steinbrenner. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig also echoed the comments of shock and sympathy.

MLB.com has created a page devoted to remembering Lidle which can be accessed at the following link.

On behalf of the staff here at RUnderground, we would like to extend our sympathy to the Lidle and Stanger families and all others involved in the horrible event. (From us here who are Christians, may the comfort of Jesus Christ fall upon the those just named.)

Lidle Banner Photo Credit: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/mlb/images/news/tributes/head_lidle_tribute.jpg, Lidle Pitching Photo Credit: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/images/2006/10/11/jVKbs8Xx.jpg