Frank Baker

John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (1886–1963) shows up in the 1909-era card landscape across an unusually wide spread of issues — E125 American Caramel Die Cuts, E254 Colgan's Chips, E90-1 American Caramel, and the T206 White Border tobacco set — a checklist breadth that reflects his standing as the Philadelphia Athletics third baseman every issue had to include. The left-handed hitter, right-handed thrower had just broken into the Athletics' starting lineup when the 1909 issue cycle began, and Connie Mack's faith in him was about to be vindicated by the run of pennants that would carry the club through 1910, 1911, and 1913. Baker earned the "Home Run" handle for two long-balls he hit off Rube Marquard and Christy Mathewson in the 1911 World Series — a nickname that would feel modest to later generations but spoke volumes in a deadball era when full-season home run totals barely cleared the teens. He led the AL in home runs four straight seasons, anchoring the so-called "$100,000 infield" alongside Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, and Jack Barry. He sat out the 1915 season in a contract dispute, then resurfaced with the Yankees through 1922. He died June 28, 1963 in Trappe, Maryland — his lifelong hometown on the Eastern Shore. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955 by the Veterans Committee, his slugging numbers reassessed in the proper deadball context.