James Patrick Archer (May 13, 1883 – March 29, 1958) was an Irish-born catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who spent nearly his entire career with four National League teams, primarily the Chicago Cubs, for whom he played from 1909 to 1917. Born in Dublin, he also played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1904, the American League's Detroit Tigers in 1907, and the Pirates, Brooklyn Robins and Cincinnati Reds in 1918. As a catcher, he could remain squatting and still throw out runners attempting to steal second base due to his unique arm strength, which became his trademark, acquired from the healing of burns that shortened his muscles after an industrial accident in which Archer fell into a vat of boiling sap at the age of 19.
His family immigrated to Montreal when he was an infant, later moving to Toronto when he was three; he attended Toronto's De La Salle College and St. Michael's College School. He was working at a barrelmaker in Toronto in 1902 when he suffered the burns which led to a three-month hospitalization. In 1903 he began playing baseball in Manitoba, and in 1904 he joined the Boone, Iowa based Boone Coal Miners team of the Iowa State League; he married Boone resident Lillian Stark in 1905. In August 1904 he was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he went on to play seven games for the team that season.
thumb|left|Newspaper photo showing Archer making a catch while playing with the Cubs in 1915.
He later played for Detroit for 18 games during the 1907 season,