Jason Giambi said that he was a part owner of the Big League Dreams Sports Park in his hometown, West Covina, Calif. The city council has approved financing for a bronze statue of Cory Lidle to be placed at the entrance to the facility.
Giambi and Lidle were teammates at South Hills High School in West Covina, and later with the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees. The statue of Lidle, who died in a plane crash in October, will cost the city $99,600, according to The Associated Press.
Lidle will be depicted in his Yankees uniform, and Giambi said that the community has felt his loss.
"Our family still lives out there, and Cory's family still lives out there," Giambi said. "We're the type of area where generations stay. A lot of people don't move out and go somewhere else to live when they grow up and grow older. He lived out there still, and I think it's a great thing."