Pittsburgh Keystones (baseball)

Pittsburgh Keystones
Information
League
LocationPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ballpark
Established1887
Disbanded1922

The Pittsburgh Keystones was the name of two historic professional Negro league baseball teams that operated in 1887 and again in 1921 and 1922.

The first team was a member of the first black baseball league in 1887, the National Colored Base Ball League. The league was short-lived and the Keystones won four games but lost seven. The team's roster included Weldy Walker, the second African-American to play in the major leagues and future hall of famer, Sol White. The team folded during the season, along with the remaining teams in the league, on May 23, 1887.:408

The second club was founded by Alexander McDonald Williams, a Barbadian immigrant and pool hall operator. The Keystones' home field was Central Park, located in the Hill District at the corner of Chauncey Street and Humber Way. The park was built by the prominent African American architect Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger, who would later design Greenlee Field for the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

In their first season the Pittsburgh Keystones played as an independent club. They compiled a 9-20-2 record against Negro National League and other associate clubs. The Keystones joined the Negro National League in 1922, finishing with a 14-29-3 record in league play under managers Dizzy Dismukes and Dicta Johnson. The team disbanded after the season.