Rays/MLB

Lidle known for passion, independence

By MARC TOPKIN
Published October 12, 2006

That former Devil Rays pitcher Cory Lidle was killed when his plane crashed into a New York high-rise on Wednesday was a stunning tragedy. But that Lidle died doing something he was passionately trying to master, was not surprising at all.

Lidle was remembered more than anything by former teammates and associates as a competitor, as someone who made up for a lack of physical skills by pitching with guts and guile, who often did things the way he wanted to and who lived his life the same way.

"Cory," Oakland A's coach Brad Fischer said, "was going to do what Cory wanted to do."

Lidle, who spent parts of the 1999-2000 seasons with the Rays, was one of the minor leaguers who crossed the picket lines during the 1995 strike as a "replacement" major leaguer.

He was one of the few who went on to have a long major-league career, though "scab" was a label that at times threatened to define him.

To some, Lidle was fun-loving, free-spirited and smart. To others, he was strong-minded, stubborn and a smart-aleck.

"He was just full of life," former Rays teammate Jim Mecir said.

If Lidle was interested in something, he tended to immerse himself in it. His most recent attraction was flying - Wednesday was a training flight - and it became a consuming hobby.

As he cleaned out his locker at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, he talked excitedly about the steps he took to get his pilot's license last offseason and how he planned to fly his plane home to California this week.

He even mentioned that he researched the details and read the NTSB report on John F. Kennedy Jr.'s fatal crash.

"I could see him trying to learn how to fly," Mecir said. "That was kind of his personality."

When the Devil Rays in June visited Philadelphia (where Lidle was playing before being traded to the Yankees), he couldn't tell Rays travel director Jeff Ziegler and equipment manager Chris Westmoreland enough about his flying episodes.

"It was kind of like the only thing he wanted to do," Ziegler said. "He absolutely loved it."

Before that, it was poker (which Lidle played often and had hosted an annual charity tournament), or it was golf (which he played well enough to be a pro, some teammates said), or it was electronic gadgets.

"He was the guy who you'd go to if you had problems with your computer or anything like that," former Rays catcher Mike DiFelice said. "Back then they were starting to do downloads and have MP3 players. I remember him sitting in the Boston locker room teaching me how to burn CDs."

Lidle was still trying to establish himself as a major leaguer when he was with the Rays so he kept more of a low profile, trying to avoid controversy as well as his past. "A low-key, easy going guy," former Devil Ray Fred McGriff said.

Former Rays manager Larry Rothschild, who went on to become pitching coach of the Cubs, said he saw a change as Lidle became more successful.

"The last few years he became somewhat more outspoken than I would have thought he'd be," Rothschild said. "He felt that he'd pitched enough to be saying different things, though I don't know that that was the greatest. But you knew where he was coming from."

Among other things, Lidle said the home run hitting accomplishments of controversial San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds were not "legitimate' and that if Bonds, part of a steroid controversy, broke Hank Aaron's the all-time record "it will be a shame."

He also criticized his former Phillies teammates after being traded to the Yankees, saying when he went to the mound he didn't know "if the guys behind me were going to be there." To which Philadelphia's Arthur Rhodes replied: "The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble. He doesn't have a work ethic."

Lidle's stint as a replacement player with Milwaukee in 1995 was an issue of varying degrees.

"He was a nice person but a lot of people didn't like him because he was a scab," former Rays first-base coach Billy Hatcher said. "He worked hard, he kept to himself and he could pitch a little."

But former Rays pitching coach Rick Williams said that wasn't the way he saw it.

"He was not as much ostracized as people think," Williams said. "It's unfair to portray him strictly as (a scab). At that point in his life he had to look out for his family, he had to look out for himself. If he was painted a picture that his future wasn't promising, just like any of us would, you do what you have to do to reach your goals."

For the players who didn't hold the strike-breaking against him, Lidle could be a fun guy to have around - as long as there was plenty of ice cream on hand.

"We used to call him 'Snacks,' " Oakland's Barry Zito said. "He'd be eating Reese's between innings. He'd go up (to the clubhouse) and stuff some M&Ms, stuff some Whoppers, maybe some ice cream - all the while throwing eight scoreless innings."

Lidle pitched for the Rays briefly in 1999 as he recovered from right elbow surgery and for a good part of the 2000 season with glimpses of success, going 4-6 with a 5.03 ERA, then was traded to Oakland in the deal that brought outfielder Ben Grieve to Tampa Bay.

Like many former Rays, Lidle had greater success after he left. He won 13 games for Oakland in 2001 and eight the next season, posting a streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings, though showing his stubborn side again. "He was going to do things his way," A's manager Ken Macha said. Lidle later pitched for the Blue Jays, Reds, Phillies and most recently the Yankees, making more than $17-million in salary along the way.

At 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, Lidle did not have tremendous physical skills. His success on the mound was often the result of being smart and unpredictable, and of using craftiness and chicanery.

"I admired the way he pitched," former Rays teammate Doug Creek said. "He was never the guy with the greatest stuff, but he always had the guts to go out there and use it."

Times staff writers Eduardo A. Encina and John Romano and researcher Angie Holan contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 00:41:40]