Colin Walter Baker (18 December 1934 – 11 April 2021) was a Welsh professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. A wing half, he spent his entire professional career playing for his home town club

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, making over 300 appearances during a 13-year spell with the ''Bluebirds''. He also won 7 caps for the Wales national team during his career and was part of the squad for the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Club career

Born in

Tremorfa Tremorfa (Welsh for ''Tre'' town + ''morfa'' coastal marsh) is a district and (since 2016) community of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It falls into the Splott ward of Cardiff. Transport Tremorfa is served by the Cardiff Bus 11 route (was 61 for ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Baker had to play rugby at school, but preferred football, and soon joined Cardiff Nomads. Baker joined

from Cardiff Nomads as an amateur in 1951. He became a part-time professional between 1952 and 1953 whilst completing his National Service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. He became a full-time professional in 1953. During summer months, Baker would stay fit by playing

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

for Adamsdown. He made his debut in a 2–2 draw with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on the final day of the 1953–54 season and went on to take over from his namesake Billy Baker on a permanent basis and his partnership with Alan Harrington during the 1959–60 season helped the ''Bluebirds'' win promotion back to the First Division. Very rarely suffering from injuries, in 1965 he became the first Cardiff player ever to be substituted, which had recently been introduced, when he was taken off due to injury during a match against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

for David Summerhayes. He was a first team player for the Bluebirds for more than a decade and is regarded as one of the greatest players in the club's history.

International career

Baker gained one cap for the Wales under-23 side during a match against England. Despite being uncapped at senior level, Baker was selected as part of the Wales squad for the

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He made his debut for Wales during the tournament in Wales' second group game, a 1–1 draw with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the group stages after being brought in for Cardiff teammate

Derrick Sullivan Derrick Sullivan (10 August 1930 – 31 August 1983) was a Wales international football player. A defender, he played his club football for Cardiff City. Club career After coming through the ranks at Cardiff he made his debut in April 1948 aga ...

. Sullivan had suffered a knee injury during Wales' opening group match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and failed a late fitness test for the following match. Baker came close to scoring in the first half of the match, hitting the crossbar with one shot after chipping Mexican goalkeeper

Antonio Carbajal Antonio Félix "Tota" Carbajal Rodríguez (; born 7 June 1929) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was also called ''"El Cinco Copas"'', in reference to his then-record of five World Cups played. Club care ...

but was forced off the pitch in the final minutes of the game with injury during which Mexico scored a late equaliser. He did not feature again during the tournament but went on to win a total of 7 caps, making his final appearance on 8 November 1961 against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Career statistics

Honours

Cardiff City *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

: 1955–56, 1958–59, 1963–64, 1964–65; runners-up 1959–60 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

runners-up: 1959–60

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Colin 1934 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Cardiff Welsh footballers Cardiff City F.C. players Association football wing halves Wales international footballers Wales under-23 international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players Players of British baseball