Frank Pastore Memorial Set For Dec. 29

The memorial for the KKLA Christian radio show host and former major league pitcher, will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 29 at Calvary Chapel Chino Valley.

The public service at 12205 Pipeline Ave., Chino, will include eulogies from pastors David Rosales and Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside.

Pastore will be laid to rest at a later date during a private family service.

Pastore, the popular host of the Frank Pastore Show, succumbed to his injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident Nov. 19 on the 210 Freeway. He was in a month-long coma but passed away Monday afternoon.

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.

- City News Service contributed to this report.