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The Field of Legends, centerpiece of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. -- DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Friday Insider: They were all (Pittsburgh) stars

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by • Friday Insider •

By Dejan Kovacevic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Upon visiting certain cities on the sporting circuit, I’ll find a favorite spot and make sure to stop each time. Here, for me, that’s always the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a first-class American cultural treasure.

Turner's

This time, I decided to invite our subscribers in the Missouri/Kansas border region to accompany me on a tour. This was Wednesday. We met in the lobby, prepared to enter and … Bob Kendrick, the president of the museum walked up to meet us. Turned out he’d seen the invitation on Twitter and was ready for us.

What follows is a brief video interview of Kendrick just outside the entrance, then a personally-guided, Pittsburgh-based tour of the facility, highlighting the five — five! — Pittsburgh-area representatives on the museum’s 10-player Field of Legends:

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Aramis Ramirez was batting .247 with 11 home runs for the Brewers this season. -- GETTY

Column: Horrible history has chance to reverse

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by • Columns •

By Dejan Kovacevic
Only in baseball, where every slump is matched by a correlating streak, every gut-wrenching defeat by a glorious victory, could the single worst trade in a franchise’s century-plus history reverse itself a dozen years and a day later.

Call it a grand reversion to the mean, if you know what I mean.

It was July 22, 2003, when the Kevin McClatchy/Dave Littlefield Pirates, their hand forced by deepening debt, dumped Aramis Ramirez and his $6 million salary plus Kenny Lofton and Randall Simon to the Cubs for — all together now — Matt Bruback, Jose Hernandez and a player to be named later who, unfortunately, would be named Bobby Hill.

It was astonishing, as brazen a clearance of cash as anyone in the game could recall.

It was tantamount to conceding that the Pirates couldn’t compete. Ever.

It so devastated the fan base that, only three years after the joyful construction of PNC Park, the sport was once again declared dead in our city.

So, uh, yeah, welcome back, Rammer. It’s kind of wonderful to have you back.

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Final: Pirates 7, Nationals 3

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by • Game previews

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Looking ahead to first pitch …

Game: Pirates (54-40) vs. Washington Nationals (51-42), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park

Pitchers: LHP Francisco Liriano (5-6, 2.98) vs. RHP Doug Fister (3-5, 4.30)

TV, radio: Root Sports, 93.7 The Fan

Online: Gameday / Multimedia / Media notes

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Aramis Ramirez is coming back to the Pirates. -- GETTY

News/views: Pirates trade for Ramirez

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by • News/views •

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News: The Pirates have acquired Aramis Ramirez from the Milwaukee Brewers in return for cash and minor league pitcher Yhonathan Barrios.

Views: Wow. In reflection, this one makes too much sense. The Pirates, as you know, are badly in need of someone who can play the left side of the infield. Enter old friend Ramirez, who remains a solid third baseman. And in case you didn’t notice last weekend, he can still hit. He’s got 11 home runs and has driven in 42 runs. Past his prime? Sure, but still a solid player, and a huge upgrade over anything the Pirates currently have.

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Steelers Shaun Suisham will likely attempt 45-50 more 32-yard kicks this season than he did last year. -- GETTY

Camp preview: New rule favors Suisham

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by • Coverage •

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Fourth in a five-part daily series previewing the Steelers’ training camp:

The next time you’re out at the bar and obscure trivia starts getting tossed around, throw this one at your buddies:

When was the last time Shaun Suisham missed a field goal between 30-39 yards?

Outside an off-day against the Raiders in Oakland, where he missed two off the infield at o.Co Coliseum from that mid-range level, Suisham hasn’t missed from 30-39 yards in the last three seasons. That also means he’s perfect at Heinz Field.

A miss constitutes the kicker striking the ball off a hold, so you can throw out last year’s muff against the Browns in Week 6. He also missed from under 30 yards in a loss to the Jets, but there’s something about that mid-distance he seems to like.

Argue all day about Suisham’s 50/50 nature from 50-plus yards, he turns into a machine from 30-39. That distance is far more important in 2015.

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Mike Tomlin and the Steelers agreed to a contract extension through the 2018 season -- GETTY

Steelers extend Tomlin through 2018

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by • Coverage •

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Rebounding from consecutive 8-8 seasons to finish 11-5, capturing a division championship, has its rewards.

The Steelers announced a contract extension for Mike Tomlin on Thursday, two days before the team reports to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for training camp. The deal keeps him with the team through the 2018 season.

“I am pleased to announce we have extended Mike Tomlin’s contract through the 2018 season,” team president Art Rooney II said through a release. “Mike has proven he is one of the top head coaches in the National Football League, and we are confident he will continue to lead the team in our pursuit of another Super Bowl championship.”

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Pedro Florimon and Travis Ishikawa connect to retire the Royals' Jarrod Dyson at first base Wednesday. -- GETTY

Column: This script written several drafts ago

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by • Columns •

By Dejan Kovacevic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — “We just need to get home. We’ll be fine.”

If anyone is to be trusted to tell it like it is with the Pirates, it’s A.J. Burnett, right?

And he’s probably right. Because the most remarkable thing about that particular remark was that it came before the 5-1 flat-liner of a loss to the Royals that followed Wednesday night, one that left the visitors limping out of Kauffman Stadium having lost two of three to the American League champions and five of six on this mercifully completed trip.

If one didn’t know better, one might think the clubhouse leader sensed something was amiss.

“If you want to know the truth, and I mean this honestly,” A.J. continued in that same pregame talk, “I don’t think we responded too well to the All-Star break, coming off all the good stuff that happened before, then being off for four days like that … I don’t know. Get us back to PNC Park, and we’ll be fine.”

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Le'Veon Bell powered the Steelers with a truly rare performance in his second season. -- GETTY

Matt’s Stats: Le’Veon Bell, perfect modern back

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by • Columns • ,

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With our Steelers beat reporter Neal Coolong off and running this week in preparation for training camp, it’s an opportune time to talk some football in this space.

Matts Stats

On Tuesday, Neal detailed what the Steelers must do to make up for Le’Veon Bell‘s absence at the beginning of the season. No matter how Mike Tomlin, Todd Haley and company go about it, it’s going to be a monumental task, even if Bell has his pending suspension reduced.

Neal was right on when he dubbed Bell “the best all-around running back in the NFL.” The Steelers have had more than their share of outstanding talent at that particular position, but Bell is a fresh permutation: an ideal modern back just as comfortable catching a pass over the middle as he is taking a handoff.

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Podcast: Pirates’ fundamentals on 105.9 the X

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by • Podcasts •

By Dejan Kovacevic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here’s the podcast of my weekly appearance on 105.9 the X with Mark Madden. We talked about the Pirates and stuff like that.

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Jerome Bettis said Alan Faneca, a 12-year veteran who played in nine Pro Bowls, is the teammate he feels should be in the Hall of Fame. -- GETTY

Bettis: Faneca should join him in Hall

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by • Coverage •

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If any of Jerome Bettis’ former teammates should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bettis said Wednesday, it’s Alan Faneca.

“He’s up this year,” Bettis said during a conference call with reporters leading up to his own Aug. 8 induction in Canton, Ohio. “Technically, he hasn’t gone through the process, but he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.We had a lot of success running behind him.”

Who else?

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