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NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager died yesterday after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Recently, Sager was best known for his NBA sideline reporting for Turner Sports where he had worked for about 30 years and his creative wardrobe, but he also had a history with baseball. While working as a reporter for WSPB in Sarasota, Florida, he was on hand in Atlanta on April 8, 1974, when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. Sager managed to sneak through a mob of other reporters and security and landed the first interview with Aaron following #715.
Born in Batavia, Illinois, Sager was a lifelong Cubs fan and recently cashed in on a $1,000 bet he placed on the 2016 team to win the World Series - apparently a bet he had placed every year since 1981. With regard to the Cardinals, Sager did an on-field interview of Carlos Beltran for Turner Sports after Game 1 of the 2013 NLCS. Beltran was one of the heroes of that game, which is one of the recent legendary Cardinals games that probably doesn’t get talked about as much as it should. Video of the interview is hard to come by (if it still exists at all), but here’s a picture of the interview with Sager sporting a glorious lavender suit.
Sager was truly one of the best and he will be missed.
Here’s what happened yesterday at VEB:
Brandon Moss
The Red Baron pointed out that the Cardinals might be wise to bring back Brandon Moss to solidify the outfield.
Randal Grichuk
Joe Schwarz took a deep Play Index dive into Randal Grichuk and found that Grichuk might want to swing on the first pitch more often.
Jhonny Peralta
I wondered aloud whether we can expect Jhonny Peralta to be a solid contributor this year at third base.
Carlos Martinez
I know where Heather is going to be on April 29, 2017.
Carson Kelly
Ben Markham made the case that Carson Kelly would be best served continuing to develop in Memphis rather than sitting on the bench in St. Louis waiting to get playing time.
That’s it, have yourself a great weekend, everyone.