Flashback: Craig Sager covered Hank Aaron's 715th home run

Craig Sager just had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

Before Sager, who died Thursday at age 65 after a long fight against leukemia, was busy sparring with Gregg Popovich on NBA sidelines, he was another kid journalist looking to make it big - and he got one of his first breaks by sliding into one of the most iconic moments in baseball history.

While working at a TV station in Sarasota, Fla., Sager managed to get a press pass to cover Hank Aaron's first attempt to become baseball's home run king in Atlanta on April 8, 1974. As it happened, Aaron hit homer No. 715 that night, and Sager captured all the sound from, improbably, right beside Aaron at home plate.

"They had no room in the press box, and all the photographers were on the first base side," Sager told the Rich Eisen Show this past July. "So I was over in that third base (camera) well all by myself.

"When he hit it I instinctively ran out on the field and met him at home, and I had a microphone there ... and I said to Hank, 'My god, you did it, what does this moment mean to you?' And he just goes, 'Thank god it's over!'"

Sager can be seen pushing his way into the pile of Braves players, recorder in hand, as Aaron touches home plate.

Upon learning of Sager's death, Aaron took to his Twitter account to express his condolences for the first man to interview him as home-run king.

Last year, Sager also wrote a first-person account of the experience.

The popular Sager, most famous for his work with the NBA on TNT, was awarded the ESPY's Jimmy V Perseverance Award this past summer.

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