Council votes to create put statue of Cory Lidle in West Covina

 

WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) -A bronze statue of late New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle will be created in the city where he played high school baseball.
City Council members approved a plan Tuesday to have the statue placed in a baseball park currently under construction.
Lidle, a former star player at South Hills High School, and his flight instructor Tyler Stanger, were killed when the pitcher’s small plane hit a Manhattan skyscraper Oct. 11. The 34-year-old pitcher lived in Glendora during the offseason with his wife Melanie and their son, Christopher.
Chris Freeland, an assistant to the West Covina city manager, said Lidle’s untimely death was a tragedy for the town.
“This is a way for our community to give back to him,” Freeland said Wednesday. He said city officials have been working closely with Lidle’s family on the project.
The statue, to be unveiled in October, will depict Lidle delivering a pitch in a Yankee uniform. It will be positioned at the entryway of Big League Dreams Sports Park, a replica of a major league baseball park.
Texas-based artist Don Hunt, known for his sculptures of rodeo images and historical figures, will create the memorial. The monument will cost the city $99,600, according to city documents.