[5] Baker was raised in Downey, California, the son of a lumber mill worker father and foster child caregiver mother.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Criticism from the University of California, Irvine and his Juris Doctor from the Pepperdine University School of Law, during which time he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Pepperdine Law Review.
[5] One of Baker's more imposing aspects is his size, standing at 6 feet 9 inches tall and weighing around 400 pounds.
[6] He was a basketball power forward at UC Irvine from 1971–75 where he established the school record for career rebounds (926) that stood for 44 years until broken by Jonathan Galloway in 2019.
[8] He left his political career in 1988 after being convicted of forgery in California for attempting to forge a $48,000 check from the nonprofit Irvine Health Foundation (of which he was executive director) for use as campaign funds during a run for a Congressional seat.