Archer: Pitcher with a purpose
Altruistic goals drive Rays star
Chris Archer’s occupation, on paper, might be All-Star pitcher, Tampa Bay Rays, but by the time he leaves this earth, he wants you to forget he ever was a ballplayer.
“Baseball is not my purpose,” Archer told USA TODAY Sports. “It goes beyond this. Baseball is in my life for a reason. I’m talented, I’m skilled at it and I’m glad I identified that. But my purpose in life is to positively impact as many people as I can. If we can all do that, the world itself will be a better place.”
Archer, a spiritual man with no religious affiliation, a voracious reader with a diverse palate, is perpetually searching for answers. He signed with the Cleveland Indians out of high school in 2006, but his intellectual curiosity and discourse far exceed a typical big-leaguer.
“I find there is some truth in everything I read,” said Archer, whose favorites this winter were
Man’s Search for Meaning and The Sports Gene. “I can learn from Charlie Manson’s auto
biography as much as I can learn from Martin Luther King’s autobiography. Malcolm Gladwell said it best one time: ‘Every book is a self-improvement book, depending how you can look at it.’ “The Power of Now was life
changing, and I AM: The Power of Discovering Who You Really Are allowed me to develop the infinite potential mentality, like every moment has unlimited possibilities.
The Alchemist challenged me to find out my true purpose, my personal legend. I like to dedicate an hour each day just to educate myself in some way.”
And, sometimes, to learn more about himself.
This is a 27-year-old African American adopted at 2, raised by his maternal grandmother and stepgrandfather, both white, in the South. He grew up believing his biological mom was his older sister. He finally met his biological father three years ago, only to walk away after the meeting and never look back.
“I know it was different, real different, but I wouldn’t change a thing,” Archer said of his upbringing. “I’m happy about everything that happened and led me down this path. That whole experience shaped me to who I am today. I couldn’t ask for a better life.” AIDING IN ADOPTION Zachary Watson, 15, who will be a high school freshman in the fall, has been in and out of foster care and group homes for most of his life.
The Heart Gallery of Tampa Bay, which tries to find permanent homes for area foster home kids, brought Zachary to spend a day last spring at the Rays spring training camp. He would be Archer’s little brother for a day, wearing Rays gear and shadowing him. They spent a lot of time talking, never too deep, but Archer shared his experience. They even filmed a video together.
“I could see he was dealing with some rejection issues, so I tried to put in a positive light what it’s all about. Show him being adopted isn’t a negative,” Archer said.
Five months later, after the video aired on local TV and the foundation’s website, Zachary was living with Mark and Terri Schreffler, a retired Air Force family, in Niceville, Fla.
On Monday, they were standing together in the Pinellas County Justice Center in Clearwater, Fla. Zachary was officially adopted. “We had been looking for about three years to adopt a teenager, but we were starting to lose hope,” Mark Schreffler said. “It looked like it was never going to happen.
“Then we saw that video. This doesn’t happen without Chris.”
The Schreffler family came to the opening of the Rays spring training camp and thanked him.
Archer’s role in that gift was far from an aberration.
“You walk into the Children’s Hospital, and the nurses there will tell you, ‘ Oh, he just left,’ ” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Nobody knew he was even there. He would just walk in, see some kids, bring some coffee and donuts, and quietly leave.”
Just before spring training, Archer was at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg again. He was pushing a coffee cart around the halls for the nurses on the late shift.
This is a guy who conducted clinics at six RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) academies on Rays road trips last season. He makes visits to local juvenile detention centers. He’s involved in everything from his non-profit Archway Foundation to the United Way; to the YMCA to the Police Athletic League; to children’s reading groups to Major League Baseball goodwill trips.
“I try to hit everybody,” Archer said. “Privileged, not as privileged. Normal. Adopted like myself. Everybody.
“If the door is open, why not? You never know how far it can go, but you may inspire someone to change their ways, to alter someone’s life, not to follow the path of negativity around them. To make a difference.”
It’s no different in the clubhouse. On the first day of camp, rookie pitchers Blake Snell and Jacob Faria walked into the clubhouse at 8:28 in the morning, with the first meeting scheduled for 9:15.
Archer told them it was unacceptable, even though they didn’t have to be on the field for another 45 minutes. He arrived at 6:30 that morning, and teammate Alex Cobb was 30 minutes earlier. Former Rays aces James Shields and David Price were always the first arrivals.
“Those are All-Stars, Cy Youngs, $217 million,” Archer said he told them, citing the contract Price signed with the Boston Red Sox in December. “You guys are the last two pitchers here. You guys have zero service time. I wouldn’t expect you to be here at 6:30. But 8:30?”
The rookies thanked Archer, and Archer later got a call from Price, his former teammate and mentor. Price loved the message, but next time do it only in private, he said.
“He’s a very, very special guy,” Price said of Archer. “Just his passion for the game of baseball. His passion for his teammates. His passion for his community. Really, his passion for life.
“He had a different upbringing, and for him to get to be able to get through that and turn into the person who he turned into today, to realize the impact that he has on people’s lives, that’s incredible.
“He’s a different breed.” SPIRITUAL, NOT RELIGIOUS Archer is his own man, refusing to let traditional boundaries get in the way of life. He earned critical acclaim for his television work during the 2015 postseason, but his interests indicate a post-pitching career beyond the booth.
He doesn’t closely follow politics but said, “It’s hard for me to believe the political system is the way they say it is.”
He doesn’t belong to a church or have a traditional religion, but he studies them all.
“My parents never really put any religion on me,” Archer said, “so all I do is seek and use what speaks to me until I find that one thing, the one all-encompassing thought or belief, that describes who I am.
“I want to read other people’s accounts. I want to read all kinds of different philosophies and different religions and spiritual practices.
“I want to develop my own thoughts and not be so influenced by society.”
Archer grew up in Clayton, N.C., not even realizing he was different than his blond-haired, blue-eyed parents until middle school. His adopted mother, Donna Archer, is his maternal grandmother. His adopted dad, Ron Archer, is his stepgrandfather.
“Sure, there were questions, but when you’re young, you never even notice that stuff,” Archer said. “I didn’t know any different. It’s not until people start asking you. ‘Wait a minute, I am different.’
“You don’t see color when you’re a kid.”
Archer’s biological mother, Sonya Clark, who gave birth to him when she was 19, has two other children. He sees her occasionally in North Carolina and during the holidays. His biological father, Darryl Magnum, a Raleigh, N.C., firefighter, has three other kids with three different women. Archer met Magnum for the first time three years ago. It was the last time. “I wanted to meet him, just to fill that void,” Archer said. “And I wanted to hear his version of what happened. ... All of the stories had a lot of similarities, basically how immature they were. I walked away completely satisfied.
“He reached out to me a couple of times after we met, but I told him, ‘You know what, I’m good. I don’t need this. The first 24 years of my life were perfect, so let’s keep it like it was.’ ”
Who knows if they will see each other again, but there will be no void. Archer has his life to live. Games to win. A team to lead. Lives to inspire.
“I’ve learned that when you do things from your heart and be your normal self you can make the greatest impact,” Archer said.
“You can’t touch everyone, but you can sure try.”