LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — Dan Quisenberry was remembered Monday as a man filled with passion and humor and whose life was so much more than the uncanny ability to put a quirky spin on a baseball.
“The beauty of Dan was that he had a profound love for people,” the Rev. David Krueger said at a memorial service. “Dan was always a regular guy. He always had the right perspective.”
Quisenberry, who died of a brain cancer last week at 45, side-armed his way into the record books with the Kansas City Royals. The pitcher loved to quote Peggy Lee when asked about the sinker.
“Hitters see it and say is that all there is,” Quisenberry would say, but it was enough for 244 saves in 12 years, including what was then a major-league record 45 in 1983.
Some 200 people attended the memorial at Quisenberry’s church. The family held private services earlier.
Among his former teammates on hand were George Brett, Frank White, John Wathan, Jamie Quirk, Steve Balboni, Mark Gubicza, Willie Wilson and others from the 1985 club that defeated St. Louis to give Kansas City its only championship.
Quisenberry won the pivotal sixth game for a team managed by Dick Howser, who also died of brain cancer.
“What a team, what a town, what a game,” Quisenberry said on the 10th anniversary of the championship, the twinkle in his eyes sparkling above the thick mustache.
Quisenberry held a deep religious faith that guided his life.
“God is so good, he catches good,” the Rev. David Milton remembered Quisenberry saying after he was diagnosed with the most severe form of brain cancer.
“God is huge. God is bigger than Cal Ripken … bigger than Ross Perot … bigger than Madonna. God is bigger than the national debt.”
Quisenberry and his wife, Janie, worked for Harvesters, the group that collects and distributes food. He was active in the Colonial Presbyterian Church. He was a poet fond of reading his work at libraries and book stores.
Janie, who left the gathering walking hand-in-hand with her children, Alysia and David, read four of her husband’s poems.
“i surely walk this path of mercy,” Quisenberry wrote in “Pondering Psalm 23.”
“justice forgiveness blessing love … for the days that are numbered for me and then … i dwell in the mansion with many rooms … past mathematics or numbers i can count.”