On this day in 2003, former Sunderland man Joe Baker sadly passed away aged 63 in Wishaw, Scotland. The Liverpool-born striker is famous for being the first ever player to play for England without having previously played in the English Football League system.
Baker had played his best football prior to joining Sunderland, and was already a cult hero at his boyhood club Hibs. He scored 4 goals in a 4-3 win over bitter rivals Hearts, which is impressive enough. It’s even more impressive that he was only 17 years old at the time!
After impressing in Scotland, scoring an astonishing 102 goals in 117 appearances, Baker travelled to Italy to sign for Torino alongside fellow Scot Denis Law. However, Baker struggled to deal with the attention from Italians off the pitch. The situation eventually turned sour, but reached a new low when Baker and Law were involved in a car accident. Law was fortunate to emerge unscathed, but his Scottish counterpart had to be drip fed for a number of weeks in hospital. Torino decided to listen to offers for the British forward, and Baker joined Arsenal.
Baker reached 100 goals for the Gunners quicker than both Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie! Despite an impressive goal scoring record, Baker only played for England eight times. After moving on from Arsenal, the striker joined Nottingham Forest before eventually signing for Sunderland for a fee of around £30,000. He played two seasons for the Black Cats, scoring 12 goals. He remains to be one of the most prolific, yet under-celebrated, goal scorers Britain has ever seen.
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