Gerry Baker
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- For the footballer born 1938, see Gerry Baker (footballer born 1938). For the footballer born 1939, see Gerry Baker (footballer born 1939).
| Gerry Baker | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gerard Austin Baker | |
| Date of birth | April 11, 1938 | |
| Place of birth | New Rochelle, New York, United States | |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | |
| Playing position | Forward | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Craigneuk Boys Club | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1955 1955-1956 1956-1958 1958-1960 1960-1961 1961-1963 1963-1967 1967-1970 1970-1971 1971-1972 1972 |
Larkhall Thistle Coventry City Motherwell St. Mirren Manchester City Hibernian Ipswich Town Coventry City → Brentford (loan) Margate Nuneaton Borough Bedworth United |
6 (?) 0 (0) 13 (4) 81 (65) 39 (14) 84 (43) 151 (66) 30 (6) 8 (2) 48 (16) |
| National team | ||
| 1968-1969 | United States | 7 (2) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1970-1971 | Margate | |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Gerard Austin "Gerry" Baker (born 11 April 1938, New York City) was an American-born British football (soccer) player. From 1955 until 1970, he played sixteen seasons in either the Scottish or English first division. He also earned seven caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team in 1968 and 1969.
Contents |
[edit] Youth
Baker was born to an English father and Scottish mother when his parents were temporarily living in the United States. When he was a year old, his parents moved to Liverpool when his father decided to return to England with the outbreak of World War II. His father died in the war and his mother and siblings moved to Scotland. Baker spent most of his youth in Motherwell. He attended Park Primary and St. Joseph Secondary schools. During these years, he played with Craigneuk Boys Club before joining Lanarkshire Schools. He signed with Larkhall Thistle when he was fourteen and played in six games before moving to Coventry City in June 1955.[1]
[edit] Professional
Baker spent one and a half seasons with Coventry City without getting a first team appearance. In December 1956, he moved back north to sign with Scottish First Division club Motherwell where he played as outside left. Over the next three years, he played thirteen games, scoring four goals, with the first team. In November 1958, Motherwell transferred Baker to St. Mirren where he finally hit his stride as a forward. On April 25, 1959, he scored the third goal in Mirren’s 3-1 dismantling of Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final. That was his eighth goal of the 1958-1959 Scottish Cup. On January 30, 1960, he scored ten goals in a 15-0 win over Glasgow University. By this time, top English clubs were beginning to notice Baker and in November 1960, Manchester City paid £30,000 for Baker. Baker spent only the remainder of the 1960-1961 season and the beginning of the 1961-1962 season before City sold his contract to Hibernian in November 1961. Over the next two years, Baker scored 43 goals in 84 games for Hibs before moving Ipswich Town in December 1963. Ipswich paid £25,000 for Baker and Baker more than returned this investment by scoring 66 goals in 151 games. Ipswich then transferred Baker to Coventry City in November 1967. Over the next two season, Baker scored only six times in thirty games with Coventry. In October 1969, Coventry loaned Baker to Brentford where he scored two goals in eight games. Coventry released Baker at the end of the season.
Baker then signed as a player-manager with non-league Margate. He was limited by several injuries, first a dislocated shoulder in August 1970, then broken ribs in November. Despite these, Baker played a total of 48 games and scored sixteen goals before leaving the club on September 30, 1971. He then joined Nuneaton Borough before finishing his playing career with Bedworth United.
[edit] National team
Baker had dual U.S. and English citizenship, and when it became apparent that he would not be selected for the English national team, he elected to make himself available for the U.S. team. Baker joined the U.S. as it began qualifying matches for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. His first caps came in a 4-2 World Cup qualifying loss to Canada on October 17, 1968. Over the next month, Baker started six games with the U.S. On November 2, 1968, he scored two goals in a 6-2 qualification victory over Bermuda. His last game with the U.S. came in a1-0 loss to Haiti on May 11, 1969.[2] That loss put the U.S. out of contention for a spot in the finals.
[edit] Coaching
In 1970, Baker entered the managerial ranks at Margate when he was hired as the club’s player-manager. He remained in this position until he left the club in September 1971. He later managed the Coventry Collier team in 1979-80.
[edit] Post football career
After retiring from playing professionally, Baker worked at the Coventry Jaguar factory.
He was the brother of the late England international Joe Baker.[3]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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