James William Baker (15 November 1891 – 13 December 1966) was a 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 ...

most notable for being the first captain of

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

He was the brother of

Alf Baker Alfred Baker (27 April 1898 – April 1955) was an English footballer. Playing career Born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, Baker was originally a miner and played for various clubs in Derbyshire as an amateur, including Eastwood Rangers. During Worl ...

who played for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Another brother Aaron Baker also played football professionally and briefly played for Leeds. Jim was born in

Ilkeston Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...

and started his career at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

, and played at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

before moving to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

, where he played under future Leeds manager Arthur Fairclough. When Fairclough moved to the newly formed

Leeds United F.C. Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

to become its first manager, Jim followed him and was handed the captain's armband to command from the center of defence. Jim played for six seasons at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

being captain for the whole period, and even helped Fairclough guide the team to their first silverware and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship in 1923–24, being a rock at the heart of the Leeds defence along with

Ernie Hart Ernest Huntley Hart
at the L ...

. Jim left Leeds after two seasons of just surviving in the First Division at the end of the 1925–26 season, moving to

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. He served on the board of directors for Leeds United between 1959 and 1961.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Jim Leeds United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Nelson F.C. players English Football League players 1891 births 1966 deaths Footballers from Ilkeston Men's association football defenders English men's footballers