A third baseman, Baker played in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1922 for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees.

[2] During his 13 years as a major league player, Baker never played a single inning at any position other than third base.

[2][4] Baker enjoyed working on his father's farm, but he aspired to become a professional baseball player from the age of ten.

[4] Baker attended Trappe High School and played for their baseball team as a pitcher and outfielder.

The team, which was managed by Buck Herzog, paid him $5 per week ($170 in current dollar terms) and covered his boarding costs.

[2][7] In 1906, Baker played for Sparrows Point Club in Baltimore, earning $15 per week ($509 in current dollar terms).

[2] A scout for the New York Giants of the National League noticed Baker while he was playing for Sparrows Point.

They arranged for Baker to receive a tryout with the Baltimore Orioles of the Class A Eastern League late in the 1907 season.

[11] Though Baker remained in the game after wrapping his arm, he acquired a reputation for being weak and easily intimidated.

[2] Joe S. Jackson, a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press, referred to Baker as a "soft-fleshed darling".

In Game Two, Baker hit a go-ahead home run off Rube Marquard for an Athletics win.

[2] A six-day delay between games as a result of rain, which turned Shibe Park into a "virtual quagmire", allowed Baker's feats to be magnified by the Philadelphia press, during which time he began to be referred to by the nickname "Home Run".

[14] But his Athletics finished in third place, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Giants in an exciting eight-game World Series.

[17] Late in the season, Mack sent Baker, Collins and pitcher Chief Bender to scout the Boston Braves, their opponent in the 1914 World Series.

[18] Despite predictions that Philadelphia would win the series handily,[17] the Braves defeated the Athletics four games to none, as Baker batted only .250.

[19] After the 1914 World Series, Mack began to sell off some of his best players[2] not including Collins, to whom he had given a multiyear contract during the regular season to prevent him from jumping to the upstart Federal League.

[21] He remained in baseball, playing for a team representing Upland, Pennsylvania, in the semi-professional Delaware County League.

[2][22] Pressured by American League president Ban Johnson, Mack sold Baker's contract in 1916 to the New York Yankees for $35,000 ($980,000 in current dollar terms).

Pipp led the American League in home runs with 12 in 1916; Baker finished second with 10, despite missing almost a third of the Yankees' games.

[2] Sports cartoonist Robert Ripley, working for the New York Globe coined the term "Murderer's Row" to refer to the lineup of Baker, Pipp, Roger Peckinpaugh, and Ping Bodie.

Missing the last six weeks of the 1921 season, Yankees' manager Miller Huggins started Mike McNally in his place.

[29] Following his retirement as a player, Baker managed the Easton Farmers of the Eastern Shore League during the 1924 and 1925 seasons.