Derby heroes: Joe Baker
Some players through the years seemed to enjoy London derbies more than most. Goalscoring hero Joe Baker was one such player for Arsenal.
Joe Baker very nearly didn’t make it to Arsenal.
During a short-lived and largely unhappy time playing for Torino in Italy, he was involved in a car crash and needed life-saving surgery. He spent more than a month being drip-fed in hospital.
However, he made a full recovery - so much so that Arsenal manager Billy Wright was prepared to fork out a club-record £70,000 transfer fee to bring Baker back to the UK in the summer of 1962.
Curiously, as detailed on the cigarette card above, this was the first time Baker had played in England, despite being an England international1. Born in Liverpool to a Scottish mother, his family was evacuated to Motherwell in Scotland during the Second World War.
Joe burst into Scottish senior football with the sort of impact that Tommy Steele made on rock ‘n’ roll . . . and if you had seen the way hundreds of teen-agers [sic] mobbed him after Saturday’s match you would appreciate the comparison.
(From a News Chronicle article, 17 March 1958)
His first professional club was Hibernian, where he scored 159 goals in just five years. This included all four in a 4-3 win for Hibs over local rivals Hearts in the Scottish Cup in 1958 (when he was aged just 17)2, and nine in one game in the same competition against Peebles Rovers in 19613.
By the time Arsenal came calling, it had been almost a decade since the Gunners’ last trophy, the league championship in 1953. With such a prolific goalscorer as Baker on board, and it was hoped that his goals would bring success back to Highbury.
Goals, goals, goals
Baker made his league debut for Arsenal on 18 August in a 2-1 opening day win over newly promoted Leyton Orient, and scored the winner.
Over the next four years, he would further prove himself to be a prolific striker - one of the most productive the club has ever had4.
In this period he played in 32 London derbies, scoring 30 goals - a remarkable feat. His average of almost a goal a game is far better than any of Arsenal’s other top goalscorers, many of whom played for the Gunners for much longer.5
Some highlights include:
A brace against Leyton Orient at Highbury on 15 December 1962, meaning he was responsible for three of Arsenal’s four league goals against the Os.
Two goals against West Ham United on 2 March 1963 in a 4-0 win for the Gunners.
All three goals in a 3-0 win over Fulham on 14 May 1963, as reported by the Daily Herald (below).
Another brace against Fulham on 5 December 1964, helping the Gunners edge a 4-3 win.
Two decisive goals against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 February 1965 as Arsenal won 3-1.
Baker’s last London derby goal came against West Ham United in a 3-2 win on 20 November 1965.
Unfortunately, Baker’s goals came during a barren period for the Gunners in terms of trophy success. The closest he got was a seventh-place league finish in his first season.
Baker left in the summer of 1966 for Nottingham Forest, having been overlooked for Alf Ramsey’s England squad for the World Cup. Meanwhile, a young John Radford was scoring goals for Arsenal and kept Baker out of the side for the final few weeks of the 1965-66 season.
In total, Baker scored 100 goals for Arsenal in just 156 games.
At Forest, he helped the team finish second in the First Division and reach the FA Cup semi-finals. Baker later played for Sunderland, Hibs again, and Raith Rovers before retiring in 1974.
Arsenal had to wait until 1970 to lift another piece of silverware when they beat Belgian side Anderlecht in the final of the European Fairs Cup (the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, now the Europa League).
Kidnapped!
While researching for this article I came across this bizarre story involving Joe Baker. In 1961, he was kidnapped by students from Glasgow University on the eve of a cup tie between Clyde and Hibs.
It seems to have been little more than a publicity stunt to raise some money for charity, but can you imagine the furore if that were to happen now? You’d have armed police sweeping through the streets of Glasgow within minutes.
This made Joe Baker the first player to have played for the England national side without having played in the domestic league.
His four goals were more than any one team had managed against Hearts that season.
Although The Scotsman, in its match report, rather cruelly pointed out that his brother George had gone one better the before, scoring 10 for St Mirren against Glasgow University.
Baker is also one of just a handful of players to have scored 100 or more league goals in both England and Scotland.
If you’re interested, here are a few others:
Ted Drake gets closest with 17 goals in 24 derbies, averaging 0.71 goals per game.
Thierry Henry has 46 goals in 63 derbies, averaging 0.69 goals per game.
Ian Wright has 34 goals in 66 derbies, averaging a goal every other game (0.52).
Emmanuel Adebayor - who has scored more goals in the North London Derby than any other male player - has 15 goals from 28 derby appearances in total, averaging 0.54 goals per game.