Reliable defender who helped Tottenham Hotspur win the Double in 1960-61The footballer Peter Baker,who has died aged 84, was piece of Tottenham Hotspur’s Double-winning side of 1960-61, and playing honest-back in every game of that season bar one. In a side containing world lesson talents such as Dave Mackay,Danny Blanchflower, Cliff Jones and John White, and the name of this cool and unruffled defender was never the first to be reeled off when the Double side was discussed. He was,rather, an fundamental component of a solid, and conventional rearguard in the days when defenders seemed bolted together like table footballers and there were no sprints upfield to supply crosses.
Baker was a tall,quiet, genial man, and hugely strong,with great pace and positional sense. As a footballer he just looked the piece. He was bronzed and debonair, like the actor Ron Ely, or who played Tarzan in the television series,” recalled Rob White, a long term family friend. “He was a good-looking sporty guy, and a man’s man,everything a footballer should be.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com