[1] Baker made a fortune after the Civil War in railroads and banking, and at his death was estimated to be the third-richest man in the United States, after Henry Ford and John D.

At 14, young George entered the S.S. Seward Institute in Florida, New York, where he studied geography, bookkeeping, history, and algebra.

Baker did not attend university, but instead enlisted in the 18th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers at the start of the U.S. Civil War, and achieved the ranks of first lieutenant and adjutant.

He was the largest individual owner of U.S. Steel stock; in the early 1920s, his shares were worth some $5,965,000 (equivalent to around $83,245,000 in 2017 dollars), according to a May 4, 1924, article in Time.

True, at the age of 84 when he has retired from many directorates, he dominates half a dozen railroads, several banks, scores of industrial concerns.Baker was "closely associated with" Morgan, the late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. robber-baron, monopolist, and Wall Street banker "in his manifold enterprises", according to Richard Boyer and Herbert Morais's 1955 book, Labor's Untold Story.

The book notes that "Morgan and associates organized super-trusts in steel (U.S. Steel), shipping (International Mercantile Marine), and agricultural machinery (International Harvester);" and it also "had its hands in other fields—the railroads (where...some 30,000 miles of railway were controlled), anthracite coal (where from two-thirds to three-quarters of the entire shipment was in Morgan hands)."

Built by LeBaron, the car's roof line was 5 inches taller than standard models so Baker could keep his top hat on.

He made other large donations to charitable causes throughout New York City and funded the construction of Baker Field, Columbia University's primary athletic facility.