Cory Lidle was born in Hollywood, California, to Doug and Rebecca Lidle. Cory was one of four children, younger sister Lisa, younger brother Billy, and twin brother Kevin who played minor league baseball. Cory was very active in the West Covina baseball leagues, playing for the West Covina American Little League 1980-1984, West Covina Orangewood Pony 1985-1986, West Covina Mickey Mantle 1987-1988, and West Covina Babe Ruth 1989-1990.

Cory attended South Hills High School (Graduated in 1990) in West Covina, California. During his senior year at South Hills High School, Cory had a record of 12-2, with 100 strike outs, 26 walks, an earned run average of 1.02, was named All Valley Pitcher of the Year, and All CIF State Pitcher. What was equally special to all of these accolades as a pitcher was that Cory's twin brother, Kevin, was his catcher during their senior year.

Cory married Melanie Varela on January 7, 1997; the pair had one son, Christopher (born in 2000).

Cory was signed in 1990 by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent. In 1993 he was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers. Lidle was then traded in 1996 to the New York Mets, and made his Major League debut for the Mets on May 8, 1997. Lidle later appeared for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Phillies. His best season was 2001 when he went 13-6 with a 3.59 ERA (10th in the American League) for Oakland, helping the Athletics win the wild card. His career zenith occurred in August 2002, when Cory gave up one run during the whole month (setting Oakland's consecutive innings without an earned run record), won all five of his starts, and was one of the primary driver in the A's historic run of 20 straight wins.

In July 2006, Cory was traded to the New York Yankees and was killed in an airplane accident on October 11, 2006.

In 2007 Cory was posthumously inducted into the Binghamton Baseball Shrine. He played for the AA Binghamton Mets (New York Mets).

As a major league pitcher and up to his death, Cory was very active in youth baseball. He was frequently seen at baseball fields giving free clinics and promoting sports.