George Baker (footballer)

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George Baker
Personal information
Full name Thomas George Baker
Date of birth (1936-04-06)6 April 1936
Place of birth Maerdy, Wales
Date of death 23 April 2024(2024-04-23) (aged 88)
Position(s) Winger, centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1954–1961 Plymouth Argyle 78 (16)
1960–1962 Shrewsbury Town 52 (5)
1962–19?? Barry Town ? (?)
Total 130 (21)
International career
1958–1959 Wales U23 2 (0)
1958 Wales
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.[1]

Club career[edit]

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.[2] He became a first team regular in 1958, and played an important part in the club's Third Division title campaign a year later.[2] 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,[3] 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.[2][4] After 5 goals in 52 appearances, Baker returned to South Wales in 1962 to play for Barry Town,[3] where he finished his career playing in the Southern League.[5]

International career[edit]

Baker was a member of the Wales squad which participated in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.[6] Wales progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition,[7] where they were knocked out by Brazil, but Baker was an unused substitute in all five matches.[8] 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.[9] He played twice for his country at under-23 level, against England in 1958, and Scotland in 1959.[10]

Personal life and death[edit]

After retiring from football Baker was an executive for an opencast mining company in south Wales. He settled in Tylorstown by 2008.[11] Baker died on 23 April 2024, at the age of 88.[12][13]

Honours[edit]

Plymouth Argyle

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Sweden Wales". FIFA. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "George Baker". Greens on Screen. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  3. ^ a b George Baker at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  4. ^ "Arthur Rowley". The Independent. 21 December 2002. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Barry Town". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  6. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup: Wales squad". FIFA. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  7. ^ "World Cup 1958". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  8. ^ "Tom Baker". FIFA. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  9. ^ Coleman, Tom (30 October 2022). "In search of George Baker, the forgotten 1958 Wales World Cup squad member who never made it onto the plane". WalesOnline. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Argyle internationals". Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  11. ^ Jones, Mike (2008). Meadow Maestros & Misfits. Janet Beasley, Shrewsbury. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-9548099-2-8.
  12. ^ "Some sad news". Twitter X. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  13. ^ Coleman, Tom (24 April 2024). "George Baker, one of the last remaining members of Wales 1958 World Cup squad, dies". Wales Online. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
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