Antbody who watched Sunderland between !969 and 1971 may well remember a centre-forward called Joe Baker. This was a man who made English history. Joe’s parents were both Scottish but his father, a sailor, moved wherever the work was - in this case Liverpool. Joe was born there. He had a trial period for Chelsea, but was not taken on. But then he was spotted by Hibernian and got the sort of offer young footballers’ dreams are made of. At Hibernian, he would learn the centre-forward’s trade from the immortal Lawrie Reilly - second in goals-per-games for Scotland only to Hughie Gallagher, and ahead of both Dennis Law and Kenny Dalglish! Reilly is a true Scottish legend. Joe took the job. When Reilly retired because of injury around 1958, Joe got his chance. And he’d learned his trade well - in 117 league appearances for Hibs, he scored 102. And he gave the England selectors a real headache. After Nat Lofthouse retired, England’s goal supply dried up. And the papers began crying out for this sensational English-born kid up at Hibernian. The problem was, no one had ever been picked for England who didn’t play for an English club. At first, the selectors stuck to that tradition. But Joe just kept banging them in! In 1959, something had to give - and it did. In a game against Northern Ireland that year, England did the “unthinkable” - they played Joe Baker, who had never, at that time, played for an English club! (Even today, only Owen Hargreaves can say the same). Joe Baker later played for Torino, Arsenal, Notts Forest, and Sunderland, scoring 156 goals in 321 appearances for those clubs. In 1971, he returned to Hibernian, and later Raith Rovers. Throughout his club career, he’d banged in 301 goals in 507 games. For England, he scored 3 in 8. After retiring, Joe managed Albion Rovers twice, but having bought a pub, he never followed the management route seriously. Joe Baker suffered a cardiac arrest whilst playing in a charity golf tournament in 2003, and died soon afterwards in Wishaw Hospital, aged 63. Later, England played lots of players from foreign clubs - Greaves, Platt, and Gascoigne among them. But it had taken Joe Baker to break the mould for them.
Saw him play at Bristol City 1970 I think, went down there with my then girlfriend (now my wife) in a Morris minor, it took forever, it was at the start of the season and Baker scored a hat trick and typical Sunderland we lost 4-3. That was a long ride home. Baker was a good player but as has been said another who came at the end of his career.
Yes, he came late. He went from Turin to Arsenal for £70,000, from Arsenal to Forest for £65,000, and from Forest to Sunderland for £30,000 - that tells the tale. Sunderland was the first time in his whole career that he averaged less than 1 in 3 games (12 in 40) and in Arsenal's case, he did better than 1 in 2. He was still a handy player, but there wasn't much of Reilly left in him by the time he got to us, no way.
Did he once get a hat trick for us in the first 10 minutes? Maybe against Sheff Utd. (or is my mind playing up again ?)
