| Interment Location | Visited | Sequence in Graves I Have Visited |
|---|---|---|
| Easton, MD | June 24, 2021 | 25th Baseball Hall Enshrinee visited |
To look at John Franklin Baker’s offensive statistics with twenty-first century eyes is to wonder how he became known by the nickname “Home Run.” The most homers he hit in a season was 12. By the end of the 2023 MLB season, Baker was no longer included on the list of the top 1,000 round–tripper hitters of all-time. But in the Dead Ball Era in which Baker primarily played, netting four bases with one swing was a rare feat. When he retired at the end of the 1922 season, Baker’s 96 career home runs were just ten shy of tying him for tenth place on the all-time list. From 1911 to 1914, Baker led the American League in homers, and he placed in the top-five in the MLB in 1913, 1916, 1918, and 1919.
Baker debuted in 1908 for the Philadelphia Athletics, playing in just nine games in September before the season ended. In 1909, owner-manager Connie Mack named Baker the squad’s full-time third baseman. Baker, along with shortstop Jack Barry, second baseman Eddie Collins, and first baseman Stuffy McInnis, comprised Mack’s “$100,000 Infield” (that sum being the highest in baseball to that point). With a roster that also included pitchers Chief Bender and Eddie Plank, Mack’s Athletics reached the World Series four times in five seasons between 1910 and 1914. The A’s were champions in 1910, 1911, and 1913. It was due to his performance in the 1911 fall classic that the press dubbed the Philadelphia third baseman “Home Run Baker.” In Game 2, Baker swatted a game-winning homer off New York Giants pitcher Rube Marquard. Baker followed that performance by hitting another game-winner over the fence off of Christy Mathewson in Game 3. The first time a world series most valuable player was named was not until 1955, but Baker assuredly would have been a contender had the award existed in 1911.
After the Athletics lost the 1914 world series in a sweep by the Boston Braves, the core of Philadelphia’s corps broke up: Plank and Bender accepted higher-salaried offers from teams in the recently-created Federal League; Mack, eager to reduce the A’s payroll, opted to offload Collins to the Chicago White Sox and Baker to the New York Yankees. I am not certain, but I find it highly unlikely that there is another instance in MLB history where a franchise lost the services of four future hall of famers in a single offseason (and Mack jettisoned a fifth, Herb Pennock, during the 1915 season). Baker was displeased that he was dealt to New York, which put him farther away from his native Maryland. The stubborn infielder sat out the 1915 season and instead played semi-pro ball. He finally reported to the Yankees for the 1916 season. He played 676 games with New York over the span of six seasons, sitting out again in 1920, but for a different reason — his wife, Ottilie, died of scarlet fever. Baker returned to the Yankees for two more campaigns, both of which ended in world series defeats at the hands of the Giants. With his power ebbing and his legs weakening, 36-year-old Baker hung up his cleats after the 1922 season — one year before the Yankees earned their first championship (led by Baker’s former teammate, the homer-happy Babe Ruth). According to the New York Times in 1963, Baker returned home to Maryland “to manage several farms he owned, to raise and train hunting dogs and to fish and hunt the waterfowl that sweep over the Eastern shore each autumn.”
The front of Baker’s gravestone is decorated with a carving of a baseball, bat, and glove, mixed with flowers and leaves. Baker was one of six players selected to be part of the large 1955 class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The five others chosen for enshrinement that year were Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons, Ray Schalk, and Dazzy Vance. Baker and Schalk were voted in by the Veterans Committee. The sextet was enshrined in Cooperstown on July 25th.
Fast Facts
Born: March 13, 1886 in Trappe, Maryland
Spouses: Ottilie R. Tschantre Baker (m. 1909-1920); Margaret E. Mitchell Baker (m. 1922-1963)
Primary Team: Philadelphia Athletics (1908-1914)
Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1955
Died: June 28, 1963 in Trappe, Maryland
Cause of Death: Stroke
Age: 77
Interment: Historic Spring Hill Cemetery, Easton, Maryland
"I guess it's true that the game has changed so much that we old gaffers are hardly a part of it anymore. Why, I remember a few years ago when I went up to Philadelphia and was astonished to see Joe DiMaggio hit a home run over the fence in right center. That fence was unchanged from the days when I played in that park and we almost never hit it on the fly or on the first bounce. But DiMaggio cleared it easily, and he didn't even seem to swing hard."
- Home Run Baker comparing mid-century Major League Baseball to the Dead Ball Era of the early 1900s, in which he primarily played
John Franklin Baker’s hall of fame plaque reads, “Member of Connie Mack’s famous $100,000 Infield. Led American League in home-runs 1911-12-13, tied in 1914. Won two World Series games from Giants in 1911 with home-runs thus getting name ‘Home Run’ Baker. Played in six World Series 1910-11-13-14-21-22.”
Sources Consulted and Further Reading
Baseball Almanac. “Career Leaders for Home Runs.” Accessed December 28, 2023. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hihr1.shtml.
Baseball Almanac. “Home Run Baker Stats.” Accessed December 28, 2023. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bakerfr01.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Home Run Baker.” Accessed December 28, 2023. https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/baker-frank.
New York Times. “Home Run Baker Dies at 77; Slugger in Era of the Dead Ball.” June 29, 1963. Page 23. https://www.nytimes.com/1963/06/29/archives/home-run-baker-dies-at-77-slugger-in-era-of-the-dead-ball-3d.html?searchResultPosition=1.
