Jim Baker (footballer)

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Jim Baker
Personal information
Full name	Jim Baker
Date of birth	November 15, 1891(1891-11-15)
Place of birth	Basford Green nr Cheadle, England
Date of death	December 13, 1966 (aged 75)
Playing position	Center-Back
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
19??–?? 19??–?? 19??–20 1920–26 1926–??	Hartlepool United Portsmouth Huddersfield Town Leeds United Nelson	?? (?) ?? (?) ?? (?) 208 (2) ?? (?)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Jim Baker (born 15 November 1891, in Basford Green, died 13 December 1966) was a professional footballer most notable for being the first captain of Leeds United A.F.C.. He was always however in the shadow of his more talented younger brother Alf Baker who played for Arsenal. Another brother Aaron Baker also played football professionally and briefly played for Leeds with Jim.

Jim started his career at Hartlepool United, and played at Portsmouth before moving to Huddersfield Town, where he played under future Leeds manager Arthur Fairclough. When Fairclough moved to the newly formed Leeds United A.F.C. to become its first manager, Jim followed him and was handed the captains armband to command the from the center of defence. Jim played for 6 seasons at Elland Road being captain for the whole period, and even helped Fairclough guide the team to their first silverware and Second Division championship in 1923-24 being a rock at the heart of the Leeds defence along with Ernie Hart. Jim left Leeds after two seasons of just surviving in the First Division at the end of the 1925-26 season, moving to Nelson.

He later became a director at Elland Road.