Funeral plans were pending for former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Frank Pastore, who died Monday from injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash about a month earlier as he rode home from hosting his Christian radio talk show in Glendale. He was 55.
The Alhambra native talked about the dangers of riding on Los Angeles- area freeways during his final show.
"You guys know I ride a motorcycle, right? At any moment, especially with the idiot people who cross the diamond lane into my lane, without any blinkers -- not that I'm angry about it -- at any minute, I could be spread all over the 210," he said a short time before the accident.
A Hyundai Sonata driven by a 56-year-old Glendora woman swerved into him on the 210 Freeway in Duarte about 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 as he was riding to his Upland home after finishing his daily show on KKLA- FM, The Los Angeles Times reported. It aired from 4 to 7 p.m. and was popular with conservative Christians.
Pastore sometimes talked about his baseball background as proof of divine intervention in his life. He pitched for the Reds from 1979 through 1985 and for the Minnesota Twins in 1986. But his pitching career was ended at Dodger Stadium in 1984, when a line drive by Dodger second baseman Steve Sax smashed the elbow of his pitching arm in a moment that "eternally changed my life," as he would later put it.
"Immediately, I knew my arm would never be the same again, and my career, as I had known it, had come to a tragic end," he wrote in his 1998 memoir. "The crack of the bat still echoed through the stadium as every eye focused on me as I clutched my elbow and grimaced in agony.
Born in Alhambra on Aug. 21, 1957, he was a baseball star at Damien High School in La Verne when he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1975.
After leaving major league baseball, Pastore enrolled in college, earning graduate degrees in theology and political science. His 8-year-old drive-time KKLA-FM program was said to be the most-listened to Christian talk- show in the country.
He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Gina; two adult children, Frank and Christina; and one grandchild.
Read more:
Pastore's Prophetic Words Hours Before Crash
Frank Pastore Update: Pastor Greg Laurie Optimistic About Pastore's Condition
Frank Pastore Crash Ruled Accidental
