5 forgotten players who spent time with both the Cubs and Pirates

The Chicago Cubs open a three-game series at beautiful PNC Park on Tuesday night, looking to close out April and start May on a high note before heading to Milwaukee this weekend to take on the Brewers.

In recent years, the balanced schedule dramatically reduced the number of games each team plays against its division foes, but for decades, the Cubs and Pirates saw each other quite regularly - and there was quite a bit of overlap with the teams' respective rosters, as well. So, ahead of this week's series, here's a look into the not-so-distant past at five guys who called both Chicago and Pittsburgh home in their careers.

1) Jeromy Burnitz

Outfielder Jeromy Burnitz played for seven teams in his 14-year big-league career and is probably best remembered for his time in Milwaukee, where he peaked offensively in the late 1990s, earning his lone All-Star selection in 1999.

But he also played for two other National League Central clubs in the Pirates and Cubs - spending one year with each team. The left-handed-swinging slugger spent the 2005 season on the North Side, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 87 runs for Chicago - and somehow still grading out as a below-average offensive player.

The very next season, his final year in MLB, he really started to show his age as a 37-year-old right fielder for the Pirates. His offensive numbers waned and he hung up his spikes and road off into the sunset that fall.

2) Tony Womack

If you're like me, you remember Tony Womack as the speedy second baseman on the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks. But he actually started his big-league career in Pittsburgh after the Pirates selected him in the seventh round of the 1991 MLB Draft.

Womack's biggest asset was his legs - and early in his career, he made the most of them, leading the league in stolen bases for three straight years from 1997 to 1999, with the first two coming with the Pirates and the third as a member of the Diamondbacks. After five years in Pittsburgh and another five in the desert, Womack closed out the 2003 season with the Cubs, appearing in 21 games with the team.

Three years later, he closed out his career with a return to Chicago, appearing in 19 contests with the '06 team. Suffice to say his work as a Pirate far exceeded what he did as a Cub but, nonethelesss, he donned both uniforms during his 13 years as a big-leaguer.