Charles Henry Baker (1867 – 10 July 1924) was an English

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 ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He also played in the Southern League with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Playing career

Born in Stafford, he first played for Stafford Rangers before joining

in April 1889. He made one appearance at the end of the 1888–89 season; the following season he appeared fairly regularly making twelve league appearances, scoring twice as Stoke finished at the foot of the Football League table and failed to be re-elected for the following season. As a consequence, Stoke played 1890–91 in the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

, finishing the season as champions. In August 1891, he moved to

where he played alongside

Will Devey William Devey (12 April 1865 – 10 June 1935) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Small Heath (renamed from Small Heath Aliiance in 1888) in the Football Alliance and for a variety of Midlands clubs in the ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international forwards Harry Wood and Robert Topham. In 1891–92 he was a virtual ever-present, making 24 appearances in the league scoring five goals, as well as four

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

appearances (four goals). The following season, he lost his place to Joe Butcher and returned to Stoke in January 1893. Although he made four appearances for Stoke at the end of the 1892–93 season, he made no appearances at all in the first team in the following season, presumably as a result of injury. On 26 April 1893, he was part of a Stoke side who were invited to play a friendly match against Southampton St Mary's, played at the County Cricket ground in Northlands Road,

. The "Saints", who included the 18-year-old Charles Miller (considered to be the father of football in Brazil) in their line-up, were "outplayed fairly and squarely on every point", although the spectators "thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition" and looked forward to witnessing "more matches of a similar character" in future. Also playing for Stoke were

Alf Littlehales Alfred Littlehales (1867 – 18 November 1942) was an English professional footballer who played at centre-half for Southampton in the 1890s. Football career Littlehales was born in Wellington, Shropshire and started his football career with W ...

, Willie Naughton and Lachie Thomson, all of whom were to move to Southampton within two years. In the summer of 1894, along with fellow Stoke players Lachie Thomson and

, he was persuaded to move to the south coast, where

were about to embark on their first season in the new Southern League. He was appointed the first team captain and "''his surges down the right wing made him a favourite with the Southampton faithful''". He scored a hat trick in an FA Cup qualifying match at the

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary' ...

against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

on 3 November 1894, as well as scoring in the next two matches as the Saints progressed to the first round proper where they lost 4–1 to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Baker went on to score a total of twelve (six league and six FA Cup) goals that season, making him the club's top scorer. According to Holley & Chalk, he was "a neat dribbler, (who) had a firm command over the ball and could centre with precision" In 1895–96 he was an ever-present as Southampton finished the season in third place. His Southampton career covered 42 first-team appearances, in which he scored 17 goals. At the end of the season he announced his retirement from football; the club presented him with a gold watch, before Baker returned to Stafford to take up the trade of

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

Career statistics

Honours

Stoke *

champions: 1890–91

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Charles 1867 births Sportspeople from Stafford 1924 deaths English footballers Stoke City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Football Alliance players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Association football inside forwards