Frank Pastore

Frank Pastore
Pitcher
Born: (1957-08-21)August 21, 1957
Alhambra, California
Died: December 17, 2012(2012-12-17) (aged 55)
Upland, California
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 4, 1979, for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
September 5, 1986, for the Minnesota Twins
MLB statistics
Win–loss record 48–58
Earned run average 4.29
Strikeouts 541
Teams

Frank Pastore (/pəˈstɔːri/; August 21, 1957 – December 17, 2012) was an American Major League baseball player and radio host. He pitched for the Cincinnati Reds from 1979 until 1985, for the Minnesota Twins in 1986, and in the Texas Rangers organization in 1987.

Playing career

Pastore was born in Alhambra, California, and was valedictorian of the 1975 class of Damien High School in La Verne, California. That year Pastore went to the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the amateur draft.[1] Despite less than overwhelming statistics (Pastore's career minor league record is 34-41 with a 3.28 ERA), he continued to be promoted within the organization and made his major league debut on April 4, 1979 at Riverfront Stadium, pitching three scoreless innings in a loss to the San Francisco Giants.[2] Though used equally as a reliever and starter during his rookie season, he moved full-time to the starting rotation in 1980.

Pastore's best statistical season came in 1980 with the Reds, as he posted a record of 13 - 7 with an ERA of 3.27 in 27 appearances. Pastore was hit on the elbow with a batted ball on June 4, 1984. That injury caused him to appear in only 41 games in the 1984 and 1985 seasons combined. He was then released by the Reds in 1986 following spring training. However, Pastore quickly signed with the Minnesota Twins and spent the entire season coming out of the bullpen. Following the season, he signed with the Texas Rangers and was assigned to the AAA Oklahoma City 89ers. However, Pastore started four disappointing games with the team (compiling a 1-3 record and 8.46 ERA) before retiring.[3]

Shortly after he was released by the Rangers, Pastore set a new record at The Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant in Amarillo, Texas, by eating a meal of 72-ounce ribeye steak, salad, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, and roll in 9 minutes, 30 seconds. That record stood until it was broken by Joey Chestnut on March 24, 2008, when he finished his same-sized steak meal in just 8 minutes 52 seconds. Pastore congratulated Chestnut on air shortly thereafter. (The overall human record is 4 minutes 18 seconds, by Molly Schuyler, who finished the first of her three meals on April 19, 2015. She subsequently had two more meals and completed them all after 20 minutes elapsed.)

Later life

After baseball, Pastore (a former atheist[4]) went back to school, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in Business Administration from National University in 1989, then spent the next two years with the national leadership of Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. He then attended the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, graduating summa cum laude with a MA in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics in 1994. In 2003, Pastore completed his second master's degree, in Political Philosophy and American Government, from Claremont Graduate School.[5]

On January 5, 2004 Pastore became the host of the KKLA 99.5 FM Los Angeles Frank Pastore Show, which was among the largest Christian talk shows in the United States.[6]

In 2011, Pastore authored a book with Tyndale House titled Shattered: Struck Down, But Not Destroyed,[7] recounting how, during recovery from his 1984 injury, he became a born-again Christian.[8]

On November 19, 2012, Pastore was seriously injured on the Foothill (210) Freeway in Duarte, California when a 56-year-old woman from Glendora, California, driving a Hyundai Sonata, inexplicably collided with his Honda VTX 1800, throwing him off the motorcycle. He suffered serious head injuries and was hospitalized in critical condition.[9] Only hours before the accident, Pastore had made comments about how

"... at any moment, especially with the idiot people who cross the diamond lane into my lane, all right, without any blinkers – not that I’m angry about it – at any minute I could be spread all over the 210. But that’s [just] my body part, and that key distinction undergirds the entire Christian worldview..."[6]

Such statements led people to speculate that he had predicted his own death. On December 17, Pastore died from complications from pneumonia and potentially as a result of his injuries.[6][10] Pastore is survived by his wife, Gina, children Frank Jr. and Christina, and one grandchild.

References

  1. ↑ Frank Pastore http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pastofr01.shtml
  2. ↑ Wednesday, April 4, 1979, Riverfront Stadium http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197904040.shtml
  3. ↑ Frank Pastore http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=pastor001fra
  4. ↑ Alex Murashko (December 18, 2012). "'Bigger Than Life' Christian Radio Personality Frank Pastore Dies". The Christian Post.
  5. ↑ townhall.com on Frank Pastore
  6. 1 2 3 Paul Bond (2012-12-17). "Frank Pastore Dies After Motorcycle Accident He Predicted". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  7. ↑ Tyndale House on Frank Pastore
  8. ↑ Frank Pastore (1998). "A Big League Skeptic Finds Faith At The Cross (excerpt from Tim LaHaye's Power of the Cross)". Retrieved 2012-11-20.
  9. ↑ "KKLA radio host Frank Pastore transferred to Upland hospital". DailyBulletin. 2012-12-14. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  10. ↑ "Frank Pastore Webpage". 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2012-12-17.

External links

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