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Eric72 · #1 08-18-2025, 01:08 PM

I just picked up this T206 Persons from a fellow Board Member. Thanks, Luke!

There are many stories about some subjects in the T206 set. Books have literally been written about Cobb, Wagner, and others. However, the Southern Leaguers are not nearly as well known. So, I figured I�d start a thread about a guy named Arch Persons. If it wasn�t for his baseball cards, it�s likely almost nobody would remember him. As it is, the man is largely forgotten. To me, that�s a shame. So, let�s shed some light on Mr. Persons.

Archie Lee Persons was born April 19, 1881, in a place called Arkansaw. That�s spelled with a �w� at the end. We�re talking about a tiny little piece of land in Wisconsin, not the state with a similar-sounding name. How tiny is Arkansaw, WI? According to Wikipedia, it has an area of less than one square mile. While I don�t have records (maybe someone can dig them up) for the 1880 census, I imagine there weren�t many people living there. Even today, less than 200 people call Arkansaw home.

Archie never made it to the Major Leagues; however, he did have an eight-year career in baseball. Minor League statistics are incomplete from that era, but it appears Persons batted .290 across nearly 1,700 at-bats. Along the way, he hit exactly 1 home run�yep, just one. Of course, the game was played differently from 1905-1912 than it is today. Still, Arch only had 2 triples and 16 doubles during his career. So, it�s pretty safe to say Persons was strictly a singles hitter.

I found one other interesting piece of info regarding Archie Lee Persons. Apparently, he attended (at least briefly) the United States Military Academy at West Point.

So, here�s my newest pick-up. Add another Southern Leaguer to my collection of T206 cards. I just may get to 520 eventually. This Arch Persons gets me one step closer.