Joe Baker
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joseph Henry Baker | ||
| Date of birth | 17 August 1940 | ||
| Place of birth | Woolton, Liverpool, England | ||
| Date of death | 6 October 2003 (aged 63) | ||
| Place of death | Wishaw, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Coltness United | |||
| 1956–1961 | Hibernian | 117 | (102) |
| 1956–1957 | → Armadale Thistle (loan) | ||
| 1961–1962 | Torino | 19 | (7) |
| 1962–1966 | Arsenal | 144 | (93) |
| 1966–1969 | Nottingham Forest | 118 | (41) |
| 1969–1971 | Sunderland | 40 | (12) |
| 1971–1972 | Hibernian | 20 | (12) |
| 1972–1974 | Raith Rovers | 49 | (34) |
| Total | 507 | (301) | |
| International career | |||
| 1958–1963 | England Under-23 | 6 | (4) |
| 1959–1966 | England | 8 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| Fauldhouse United | |||
| 1981 | Albion Rovers | ||
| 1984–1985 | Albion Rovers | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Joseph Henry Baker (17 August 1940 – 6 October 2003) was an England international footballer who played at club level for Hibernian, Torino, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Raith Rovers. At the age of 26 he achieved the feat of having scored 100 top division goals in both Scotland and England.
Born to a Scottish mother and English father in Liverpool, Baker spent the first six weeks of his life in England and was then raised in Scotland until he moved to Italy aged 20. Despite self-identifying as Scottish, rules at the time meant his only international football eligibility was for his birth nation. His full England debut in 1959 made him the first professional footballer to represent England while playing for a club outside the English football league system, and the first to have never played for an English club before his full England debut.