Mark Belanger, one of baseball's best fielding shortstops during his 16 years in the major leagues, is dead at age 54 of lung cancer.

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A heavy smoker until he quit around 1990, Belanger was diagnosed with the disease about a year ago. He died Tuesday.Belanger was the Baltimore Orioles' union representative as a player, and after his retirement, he became a key figure in the Major League Baseball Players Association as the longtime assistant to union head Donald Fehr.

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