George Baker (footballer)
{{Short description|Welsh footballer (1936–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = George Baker
| image =
| caption =
| full_name = Thomas George Baker
| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|04|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Maerdy, Wales
| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|04|23|1936|04|06|df=y}}
| height =
| position = Winger, centre forward
| youthyears1 =
| years1 = 1954–1961 | clubs1 = Plymouth Argyle | caps1 = 78 | goals1 = 16
| years2 = 1960–1962 | clubs2 = Shrewsbury Town | caps2 = 52 | goals2 = 5
| years3 = 1962–19?? | clubs3 = Barry Town | caps3 = ? | goals3 = ?
| totalcaps = 130
| totalgoals = 21
| nationalyears1 = 1958–1959 | nationalteam1 = Wales U23 | nationalcaps1 = 2 | nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 1958 | nationalteam2 = Wales | nationalcaps2 = 0 | nationalgoals2 = 0
}}
Thomas George Baker (6 April 1936 – 23 April 2024) was a Welsh international footballer who was in Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup.{{cite web |title=1958 FIFA World Cup Sweden Wales |url=http://fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=15/teams/team=43974.html |website=FIFA |access-date=24 April 2024 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017114429/http://fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=15/teams/team=43974.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}
Club career
Originally a winger, Baker joined Plymouth Argyle as a teenager in the early 1950s. He made his first team debut in October 1954, but appeared sporadically over the next three years, as he developed his game playing for the club's reserve team in the Plymouth & District, Devon Wednesday, and Football Combination Leagues.[http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/gosdb-players2.asp?pid=28&scp=1,2,3,4,5,6,7 "George Baker"]. Greens on Screen. Retrieved 24 January 2010. He became a first team regular in 1958, and played an important part in the club's Third Division title campaign a year later. After that success, Baker sustained a knee injury which eventually brought his career at Home Park to an end. He scored 17 goals in all competitions for the club and made 83 appearances. He joined Shrewsbury Town in 1961,{{NeilBrownPlayers|player1/georgebaker}}. Retrieved 14 January 2011. who were under the management of Arthur Rowley. He played in the match where Rowley broke Dixie Dean's record for most goals scored in the Football League.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080531002911/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/arthur-rowley-611668.html "Arthur Rowley"]. The Independent. 21 December 2002. Retrieved 14 January 2011. After 5 goals in 52 appearances, Baker returned to South Wales in 1962 to play for Barry Town, where he finished his career playing in the Southern League.[https://www.fchd.info/BARRYT.HTM "Barry Town"]. Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
International career
Baker was a member of the Wales squad which participated in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071017114429/http://fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=15/teams/team=43974.html "1958 FIFA World Cup: Wales squad"]. FIFA. Retrieved 24 January 2010. Wales progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition,[https://www.rsssf.org/tables/58full.html "World Cup 1958"]. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 14 January 2011. where they were knocked out by Brazil, but Baker was an unused substitute in all five matches.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090327202458/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=69971/index.html "Tom Baker"]. FIFA. Retrieved 24 January 2010. He, Graham Vearncombe, John Elsworthy and Len Allchurch were in the 22-man squad but never went to the tournament, as they were not booked onto the aeroplane.{{cite news |last1=Coleman |first1=Tom |title=In search of George Baker, the forgotten 1958 Wales World Cup squad member who never made it onto the plane |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/search-george-baker-forgotten-1958-25261251 |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=WalesOnline |date=30 October 2022}} He played twice for his country at under-23 level, against England in 1958, and Scotland in 1959.[http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/sv-internationals.asp "Argyle internationals"]. Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
Personal life and death
After retiring from football, Baker was an executive for an opencast mining company in south Wales. He settled in Tylorstown by 2008.{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Mike|title=Meadow Maestros & Misfits|year=2008|publisher=Janet Beasley, Shrewsbury|page=28|isbn=978-0-9548099-2-8}} Baker died on 23 April 2024, at the age of 88.{{cite web |title=Some sad news |url=https://twitter.com/tomEcoleman/status/1783056820854018279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1783056820854018279%7Ctwgr%5Ef405d7891626a5d3ecac896eea34aa6c74dcf018%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.deathlist.net%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FtomEcoleman%2Fstatus%2F1783056820854018279 |website=Twitter X |access-date=24 April 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Coleman |first1=Tom |title=George Baker, one of the last remaining members of Wales 1958 World Cup squad, dies |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/george-baker-one-last-remaining-29048548 |access-date=24 April 2024 |publisher=Wales Online |date=24 April 2024}}
Honours
Plymouth Argyle
References
{{reflist}}
{{Wales squad 1958 FIFA World Cup}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, George}}
Category:Welsh men's footballers
Category:Men's association football wingers
Category:Wales men's under-23 international footballers
Category:1958 FIFA World Cup players
Category:English Football League players
Category:Southern Football League players
Category:Plymouth Argyle F.C. players