Cory Lidle, 34, was a journeyman pitcher whose apparent death when his single-engine airplane flew into an Upper East Side apartment building eerily echoed the death of another Yankee, Thurman Munson, in 1979. Like Munson, he was newcomer to flying, a marginal pilot who was still learning. His instructor was reportedly killed with him.

During the off-season last year, Lidle acquired his pilot’s license. Flying quickly became his biggest hobby; he soon bought his own plane and tried to spend every spare moment in the air.

“Yeah, it’s risky, but no more risky than driving a car,” he said in August. A friend of Lidle’s said the New YorkYankees pitcher phoned earlier yesterday to say he would stop in Nashville, Tenn., on his way to California, according to the Associated Press.

“He called me about 11:30 this morning …and said that he was still planning on coming in, that there were some weather cells around Nashville and that he had a flight instructor with him and that they’d be in about 5,” Dave Whitis told the radio station WGFX. “He was actually going to take me up in his plane when he got here.”

His route to the Bronx, where he pitched in the last game of the Yankees’ 2006 season, was an unlikely one. A native of Hollywood, Calif., Cory Fulton Lidle was a high school teammate of Jason Giambi’s. Unlike Giambi, Lidle did not draw interest from scouts and was not drafted.

In 1991, Lidle, then 19, signed with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent. He spent two seasons in the Twins organization and was released.

No other team showed interest in signing him, and he drifted to the independent Pioneer League. Lidle tied for the league lead in wins. This was enough to impress the Milwaukee Brewers, which purchased him that fall. He briefly served as a replacement player during the 1995 baseball strike, earning him the enmity of some players.

Lidle had his first brush with New York baseball in 1996. After he put up good numbers at El Paso of the Texas League, Lidle was traded to the Mets for catcher Kelly Stinnett. The Mets placed him at Binghamton of the Double-A Eastern League. He responded with alacrity, leading the league in complete games and innings pitched. His lack of stuff still kept him from being labeled a bona fide prospect, but for the first time a major league club had a reason to take him seriously.

He made his major league debut with the Mets on May 8, 1996, pitching two innings in relief of Rick Reed in a 4–2 loss in Houston. Lidle quickly earned manager Bobby Valentine’s trust and became one of the team’s most frequently used relievers over the remainder of the season. Lidle excelled in relief, going 7–1 with a 3.19 ERA.

But the Mets left Lidle unprotected in the expansion draft held that November and he was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He would never pitch for Arizona; right elbow surgery put him on the disabled list for most of the next two seasons.

At the end of the 1998 season, Lidle was claimed on waivers by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He didn’t regain his form until late in the 2000 season, when he finished with a 2.22 ERA in his last four starts.

Lidle’s hot finish anticipated his 2001 season. That January, the Oakland A’s acquired him as part of a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Kansas City Royals. Backed by one of baseball’s best defenses, the ground-baller blossomed, going 13–6 with a 3.59 ERA and helping to pitch the A’s to a wild card berth in the playoffs. Lidle started Game 4 of the Division Series against the Yankees and was stuck with the loss after allowing six runs in 3.1 innings.

Despite a losing record and a long stint on the disabled list, Lidle had another successful season for the A’s in 2002. He was named AL Pitcher of the Month for August after going 5–0 with an 0.20 ERA, including two one-hit shutouts.

That winter, the A’s dealt the increasingly expensive Lidle to the Toronto Blue Jays. He had a difficult season in Canada, posting an ERA of 5.75, and left for Cincinnati as a free agent. After an indifferent 24 starts as a Red he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in August 2004.

Lidle was an average pitcher for the Phillies, going 26–20 with a 4.50 ERA in 62 starts, yet he was valued highly by the general manager of the Yankees, Brian Cashman, who insisted he be included in the July 31 deal for Bobby Abreu.

Cashman said he would not have made the deal without the inclusion of Lidle, who he believed would solidify the shaky fifth spot in the Yankees rotation. Lidle was only partially successful for the team, pitching reasonably well in five of nine starts but getting hammered in the other four. He allowed 11 home runs in just 45.1 innings pitched, and manager Joe Torre relegated him to the bullpen for the first round of the playoffs.

His last appearance as a Yankee came in Game 4 of the Division Series, pitching in relief of starter Jaret Wright. Lidle was ineffective, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings to help put the Yankees into a 7–0 hole. He did not figure in the decision in what proved to be the elimination game.

Lidle is survived by his wife, Melanie, and son, Christopher, 6.