Joseph Henry Baker (17 July 1940 – 6 October 2003) was an

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

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, rugb ...

. Born in

Woolton Woolton (; ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located southeast of the city and is bordered by Allerton, Gateacre, Halewood, and Hunt's Cross. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,921. Overview Originally a standalone ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, England, he spent virtually his entire childhood growing up in

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

, Scotland. He is notable for being the first professional player to have played for England without having previously played in the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

, and for scoring over 100 goals in both the English and Scottish leagues. His brother Gerry Baker was also a professional footballer, who played internationally for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Early years

Joe Baker's mother was Scottish. His father, George, born in Woolton, was a sailor. When living in New York, Joe's elder brother,

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice pre ...

, was born in 1938. After the outbreak of World War 2, the family moved to

when George volunteered for the Merchant Marines. George survived his boat being torpedoed but soon after died from the injuries he received. The family then evacuated to

in Scotland, just six weeks after Joe’s birth and this is where the Baker brothers spent the rest of their childhood.

Club career

Hibernian

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, Baker spent a month on trial with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

as a youngster, but was not signed. He signed professional terms with Hibernian after playing Junior football for local Coltness United, and was then farmed out to another Junior team, Armadale Thistle. In his first season with Hibs, the 17-year-old Baker scored all four goals in Hibs' 4–3 victory over city rivals Hearts in the quarter-final of the 1958 Scottish Cup. He played in the

1958 Scottish Cup Final Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

which Hibs lost 1–0 to

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, and also scored nine goals in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Peebles Rovers Peebles Rovers Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Peebles, Scottish Borders. Originally founded in 1888 as Greenside Rovers, the club changed their name to Peebles Rovers in the May of 1890. This is at odds with the official da ...

. Baker was Hibs' top goalscorer for four consecutive seasons, scoring a club record 42 goals in 33 league games during the 1959–60 season. In all he scored 102 goals in just 117 league games, and 159 goals in all competitions for the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

club. Gerry Baker signed for Hibernian from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in November 1961, not long after Joe had left

Easter Road Easter Road is a association football, football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity ...

Torino

In 1961, Baker was transferred to

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

for £75,000, after the Hibs board refused to give him a £5 increase from his existing wage of £12 a week. Despite scoring a winning goal in a

Turin derby The Derby della Mole is the local derby played out between Turin's most prominent football clubs, Juventus and Torino. It is also known as the Derby di Torino or the Turin Derby in English. It is named after the Mole Antonelliana, a major landma ...

match against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, his time at the Italian club was short and almost ended in tragedy. Baker was involved in a serious car crash, which meant that he needed life-saving surgery and spent over a month on a drip feed. It was a generally unhappy spell as Baker did not like the press intrusion, which meant that he and teammate

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City ...

spent most of their time in their Turin apartment.

Arsenal

Baker recovered from his injuries and he returned to the UK in July 1962, joining Billy Wright's

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 mostl ...

for a club record fee of £70,000. He made his debut against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

on 18 August 1962, and in all spent four seasons with the ''Gunners''. For three out of those four seasons ( 1962–63, 1964–65 and 1965–66) he was the club's top scorer; in total he scored 100 goals in 156 games in all competitions, making him one of the club's most prolific goalscorers of all time. His pace and acceleration made him a highly effective and dynamic attacker, and he was equally adept with his feet and his head, despite his lack of height. With Geoff Strong he formed one of Arsenal's most prolific striking partnerships, but the defence could not match the quality of the team's attack, which meant they were unable to finish above 7th in the league during his time at the club.

Nottingham Forest

After a disappointing 1965–66 season, Wright sold Baker to Nottingham Forest for £65,000. Baker had a successful 1966/67 at Forest, as the club finished runners-up in the top division to the club that would win the following season's

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

(whose team included Baker's ex Torino teammate, Denis Law). In that season, Baker was injured in the 3–2 victory over Everton in the FA Cup 6th round and missed the rest of the season. Prior to his injury, Forest had lost only once in 28 games; after it they only won three of their six remaining league games and lost in the FA Cup semi-final to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. In three years at Forest, Baker scored 41 goals in 118 league games.

Sunderland, return to Hibs and Raith Rovers

Baker then moved to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

for a fee of £30,000, and spent the following two seasons playing for the ''Black Cats''. He returned to Hibernian for a second time in 1971 and scored 12 goals in 30 appearances. He moved to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

in 1972 and retired in 1974, having in all scored 301 league goals in 507 games.

International career

Baker's talents meant that he was selected by the Scottish Schools team, but his birthplace made him only eligible to play for

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 ...

under the rules of the time; "I was the first Scottish League player to play for England and it was a hard thing to take because I was a Scot, as far as I was concerned."Joe Baker: The Reluctant Englishman
By Far The Greatest Team, 13 August 2017 He made his England debut against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

in 1959, which made him the first professional player to be capped for England while playing for a club outside the

. It also meant that he was the first player to play for England without having ever played for an English club ( Owen Hargreaves was the next player to do this, in 2001). Baker won eight caps for the senior England side, five while he was playing for Hibs and three while with

. These later caps were won when he earned a brief recall to the England side in 1965. Despite scoring in a 2–0 win over

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, Baker did not make the squad for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in th ...

Managerial career and later life

Baker later became

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scott ...

manager on two occasions, but never pursued a full coaching career, instead running a pub and working for Hibernian's hospitality service. He died at the age of 63, after suffering a heart attack during a charity golf tournament, dying in

Wishaw General Hospital University Hospital Wishaw (formerly known as Wishaw General Hospital) is a district general hospital in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, situated between the areas of Craigneuk to the north and Netherton to the south. The hospital, managed by NHS ...

soon after.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* *
Article on Joe Baker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Joe 1940 births 2003 deaths Albion Rovers F.C. managers Armadale Thistle F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players England international footballers England under-23 international footballers English expatriate footballers English football managers English footballers English people of Scottish descent Expatriate footballers in Italy English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Hibernian F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Footballers from Motherwell Scotland youth international footballers Raith Rovers F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Serie A players Footballers from Liverpool Sunderland A.F.C. players English Football League players Torino F.C. players Newmains United Community F.C. players Scottish league football top scorers Association football forwards Anglo-Scots