Harvey Roy

Wheeling, West Virginia’s Peninsula Cemetery isn’t the easiest place to find. Situated between industrial complexes and a dead-end road, the cemetery looks neglected and forlorn. With stones toppled over and minimal maintenance, looking for the final resting place of anyone there can be challenging. This forgotten burial ground is the final resting place of two major leaguers, Sam Barkley and Harvey Roy. These men have some things in common, such as both playing for a Pittsburgh team in 1887. That season Barkley suited up for the American Association’s Alleghenys while Roy played for the Pittsburgh Keystones —a National Colored Baseball League squad entirely made up of Black players, including future Hall of Famer Sol White. Both Barkley and Roy have faded into obscurity over the ensuing century-plus, with very little written about either.

What these players do not share is knowledge of the location of their final resting places within Peninsula Cemetery. Barkley’s has been found; Roy’s has not. It may be that he isn’t even buried in Peninsula Cemetery any longer.1 Regardless, his story is one of a trailblazing baseball pioneer turned professional gambler, a man worthy of remembrance. To the extent that a sketchy evidential record permits, his biography follows.

Roy was born on October 1, 1867, in Washington, D.C., the son of John Roy of Maryland.2 Beyond this, nothing is known about Roy’s early life, including his mother’s name, possible siblings, education, vocational training, and early occupations. Nor is there any physical description of him. Thereafter, the historical record is silent until Harvey Roy emerges some 20 years later.

The Pittsburgh Keystones made their debut on May 6, 1887 against the New York Gorhams on the second day of the National Colored Baseball League’s inaugural season.3 League president Walter Brown had high hopes for this upstart confederation of all-Black teams. But the entire enterprise collapsed within two weeks. While Roy was not part of the inaugural game for the Keystones, he joined the team four days later.

The precise origins of Harvey Roy’s baseball career are murky and the way he batted and threw is unknown, as are his height and weight. Just how Roy came to play with the Keystones also remains undiscovered. However, on May 10, 1887, the 19-year-old made his first appearance with the Keystones as they took on the Philadelphia Pythians at the Athletic Grounds. Patrolling left field, Roy hit a single, scored one run, and muffed a fly ball in his debut, a 9-8 Pittsburgh loss.4  A day later, Roy appeared in the last recognized game of his abbreviated career. Back at the Athletic Grounds, the Keystones turned the tide and walked away with a 19-13 win over their cross-state rivals. Once again, Roy was stationed in left field and scored one run.5 He also registered another base hit, bringing his totals to 2-for-9 at bat, yielding him a lifetime .222 NCBL batting average.

On May 29, the New York Sun announced that the National Colored Baseball League was no more.6 The Keystones, however, carried on playing as an independent club. While detailed write-ups of games after the demise of the NCBL are scant, Roy’s name appeared in the October 2 edition of the Wheeling Daily Register. The Keystones took on the hometown club in a late-season exhibition. While no box score survives, the Register’s game account noted that “Roy flied out to center.”7 Nothing more was provided about his performance in that game.

The following season the Keystones reorganized and began playing out of Steubenville, Ohio.8 According to an article published in the Pittsburg Press, returning players included Sol White, Weldy Walker, David Allen, Charley Bell, Frank Miller, Henry Gant, Willie Stanard, and two players listed only as Thomas and Garrison.9 On April 19, 1888, the Keystones opened their new season on the road against the Wheelings at Island Park.10 “It was a cold and raw afternoon and only about 100 persons were in attendance,” the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer reported. Roy, playing right field, scored one of the Keystones’ three runs that day. Unfortunately, Wheeling had 16 by game’s end.11

In August, the Keystones were one of four teams scheduled to play in what one newspaper called the “Colored Championship of the United States.” The other entrants were the Gorhams of New York, the Cuban Giants (based in Trenton, New Jersey), and the Blue Sox of Richmond, Virginia.12 Roy was listed as the Keystones’ center fielder.13 Press coverage of the action was thin, with few mentions in the sports sections of Pittsburgh and New York dailies. The Keystones finished the series in second place with four wins, one shy of the Cuban Giants.14 How Roy performed individually was not reported.

Newspaper coverage of the Keystones’ 1889 season provides the most information available about Roy’s baseball career. On May 10, the Keystones took on the McKeesport (Pennsylvania) baseball club. Roy, still stationed in center field, finished the game with a double, one run scored, and one defensive miscue. Roy’s was the lone tally for the Keystones in a 20-1 drubbing.15 A month later, the Keystones took on the club from the Pittsburgh suburb of Homestead. Roy, this time in right field, was hit by a pitch, the only recorded action he saw during that game.16

In 1889, the Keystone team played a host of local competition, traveling as far as Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to practice their craft.17 In an article published on August 11, 1889, the Pittsburg Dispatch mentioned that Roy “hit well” in a game against McKeesport.18 The last newsprint mention of Roy in 1889 appeared in a game writeup published in the Pittsburg Press on August 25. First baseman Roy had two hits including a double and scored a run in a 10-7 Keystones victory over the Pittsburgh Grays.19

Roy continued on with the Keystones through the 1890 season, when the team relocated to Wheeling.20 This was Roy’s final year in baseball. Regrettably, no information has been discovered as to why he left the game – coverage of the Keystones was almost nonexistent that year.

In 1891, Roy switched professions and became a fulltime gambler, running a poker room at 1043 Market Street in Wheeling.21 This career change led to frequent run-ins with the law, though it wasn’t the first time.22 On February 28, 1888, while still playing with the Keystones, Roy and a partner were arrested for running an illegal gambling house at 124 Wylie Avenue in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.23In 1891 alone he was brought before the courts three times. In January, he was fined $10 plus court costs for striking another man and “cutting a hole through his upper lip.”24 In November and December of that same year, he was back before the court and fined for running an illegal gambling house.25 In 1892, Roy and another man beat up a fellow gambler over a game of dice.26

Not all the news about Roy was negative, however. In 1893, he married Jenny Miller, though nothing personal is known about his bride.27 But in 1896 Mrs. Roy brought charges against a woman named Stella Tenny, who ran a house of ill repute. Mrs. Roy accused the defendant of allowing Roy to spend the couple’s money at Tenny’s establishment.28 Roy was also active with the Silver Tongued Glee Club and later the Silver Tone Quartette, a contrast to his unsavory profession.29 That aside, most of the news about Roy between 1891 and 1900 involved criminal activity, including his being fined for offenses ranging from gambling to assault and battery.30 The last discovered mention of Roy in the news came on May 23, 1900, when a gambling house that he operated was raided by the Wheeling police.31

On October 24, 1905, Harvey Roy succumbed to tuberculosis. He was 38. The expenses for interment in Peninsula Cemetery came to $2.32 Roy’s death certificate listed his occupation as “gambler,” with no mention of his baseball career.33

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Seamheads.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Ancestry.com, and US Census records.

Notes

1 Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling, West Virginia – Find a Grave Cemetery, accessed December 26, 2025. According to the website, “In 1964 the I-70 Interstate Road/Tunnel Project cut through the Peninsula Cemetery and over 2,500 bodies were exhumed and reinterred to several area cemeteries. Most of the graves were ’unknown’ as the section that was referred to as the “paupers’ section” had no records and many were buried there.”

2 West Virginia, U.S., Deaths Index, 1853-1973 – Ancestry.com, accessed December 26, 2025.

3 “Colored League Opening,” Pittsburgh Post, May 2, 1887: 6. The league was also known as the Colored League or the League of Colored Base Ball Clubs.

4 “The Pythians Win Again,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 1887: 3.

5 “The Pythians Lose a Game,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 13, 1887: 3.

6 “The Colored League,” New York Sun, May 29, 1887: 15.

7 “Yesterday’s Game,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Register, October 2, 1887: 4. * Roy’s first name is hardly used in any articles, thus leaving much room for some ambiguity.

8 “For the Colored Championship,” Pittsburgh Post, August 3, 1888: 6.

9 “Mélange of Sports,” Pittsburg Press, April 5, 1888: 2.

10 “The Keystones Downed,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Intelligencer, April 20, 1888: 4.

11 “The Keystones Downed.”

12 “For the Colored Championship,” Pittsburgh Post, August 3, 1888: 6.

13 “For the Colored Championship.”

14 “For the Colored Championship,” New York Sun, August 27, 1888: 3.

15 “Keystones Defeat McKeesport,” Pittsburg Dispatch, May 11, 1889: 6. The article title is wrong as it was McKeesport who defeated the Keystones. according to the game writeup and box score.

16 “The Keystones Do Great Work and Beat Homesteads,” Pittsburg Dispatch, June 16, 1889: 6.

17 “The Scotts Win,” Pittsburg Dispatch, July 2, 1889: 6; “The Keystones Lead the Latrobes in a Close Contest,” Pittsburg Dispatch, July 11, 1889: 6; “A Victory for Braddock,” Pittsburg Dispatch, August 9, 1889: 6.  Latrobe is approximately 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.    

18 “Still Another,” Pittsburg Dispatch, August 9, 1889: 6.      

19 “Our Colored Friends,” Pittsburg Press, August 25, 1889: 6.      

20 “Base Ball Notes,” Wheeling Sunday Register, June 22, 1890: 1.

21 “Squire Arkles Court,” Wheeling Daily Register, November 10, 1891: 5.

22  “Squire Arkles Court.” 

23 “Local Brevities”, Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, March 1, 1888: 4.

24 “Harvey Roy Fined $10 and Costs,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, January 15, 1891: 4.

25 “Squire Arkles Court,” above; “Local Brevities,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, December 7, 1891: 5.

26 “For To-Day’s Police Court,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, May 28, 1892: 5.

27 West Virginia, U.S., Marriages Index, 1785-1971 – Ancestry.com, accessed December 26, 2025.

28 “Twelve Cases Against Her,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, January 22, 1896: 6.

29 “M’Kinley’s Day,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, October 24, 1894: 6; “Serenading Party,” Wheeling Register, June 2, 1896: 4.  

30 “Many Were Fined,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, March 11, 1898: 5; “Both Are Colored,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, November 16, 1897: 8.  

31 “Brief Mentioning,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, May 23, 1900: 5.  

32 Harry Roy (1867-1905) – Find a Grave Memorial, accessed December 26, 2025.

33 Same as above. See also, West Virginia, U.S., Deaths Index, 1853-1973 – Ancestry.com, accessed December 26, 2025. This entry states that he was a widower.