Series Preview #41: The Brewers and Pirates' Shared History

As the Brewers and Pirates get ready to open their first series in Pittsburgh this season, we'll take a moment to look at the players both franchises have had an opportunity to root on over the years. The two franchises have shared 64 players over the years, including 31 pitchers.

Longest tenured Brewer position player who was also a Pirate: Sixto Lezcano

The Brewers signed Lezcano as an amateur free agent out of Puerto Rico in 1970 and he played his first eleven professional seasons in the Brewer organization, including seven years in the majors. He hit .275/.354/.452 between 1974-1980 with the Crew, including a career year in 1979 where he hit .321/.414/.573 with 28 home runs and won a Gold Glove in the outfield.

The Brewers traded Lezcano to the Cardinals following the 1980 season and he was something of a journeyman ater that, appearing in games for St. Louis, San Diego and Philadelphia before coming to the Pirates. He played 72 games for Pittsburgh in 1985, his final major league season, and hit .207/.392/.302 in 153 PAs.

It's worth noting that Lezcano (who appeared in 785 games as a Brewer) narrowly edged out Jeromy Burnitz (782 games) here.

Longest tenured Brewer pitcher who was also a Pirate: Jeff Suppan

This spot could have used a happier memory.

Long before Jeff Suppan was a very expensive Brewer he was already a veteran journeyman. He had posted a 5.03 ERA in over 1000 innings in eight professional seasons when the Pirates signed him as a free agent in January of 2003. He wasn't bad there, posting a 3.57 ERA over 21 starts, but was traded later that same year to the Red Sox.

From there you likely recall the rest of the story. Suppan had three good years as a Cardinal that inspired the Brewers to give him a four year, $42 million deal as a free agent. He appeared in 110 games as a Brewer and posted a 5.08 ERA while striking out less than five batters per nine innings.

The second-longest tenured Brewer pitcher who was also a Pirate was Dan Plesac, the franchise's all time saves leader. He would've been more fun to write about.

Follow the jump for more history!

Longest tenured Pirate position player who was also a Brewer: Dave Parker

The Pirates drafted Parker in the 14th round (332nd overall) in 1970 and were handsomely rewarded, as he spent eleven seasons with the Bucs and hit .305/.353/.494 over 1301 games, mostly in right field. He was a four time All Star as a Pirate, three time Gold Glover and the 1978 NL MVP.

Parker signed with the Reds as a free agent following the 1983 season and spent four seasons there and two with the A's before joining the Brewers in 1990. He was very good in his single season as a Brewer, hitting .289/.330/.451 with 21 home runs, making his final All Star appearance and winning his final Silver Slugger award while playing primarily as a DH.

The second player on this list would be Jason Kendall, who also appeared in 1252 games as a Pirate.

Longest tenured Pirate pitcher who was also a Brewer: Jerry Reuss

Reuss pitched for eight teams over a 22 year major league career, and the Pirates were the third stop on his travels. He pitched for them from 1974-78 and was an NL All Star in 1975 when he posted a 2.54 ERA over 237.1 innings. Amazingly, that campaign wasn't enough to net him a single Cy Young vote.

The Brewers were the eighth of Reuss' eight teams. They acquired him at the trade deadline in 1989 and he appeared in seven games, posting a 5.35 ERA over 33.2 innings.

Reuss pitched over 1000 innings as a Pirate. The distant second player on this list would be 1997-98 Brewer Paul Wagner, who pitched 536.2 innings as a Pirate from 1992-97.

Five players have appeared in at least 150 games as both a Brewer and Pirate:

Five pitchers have worked at least 130 innings for both teams: