[2][11] He made his international debut on 1 November 1906, in a friendly match against England amateurs at the Parc de Princes in Paris, conceding 15 goals in a resounding 0–15 loss, which still is the heaviest defeat in the history of the French national team.

[2][3][4] This performance put his international career at risk, but he was able to regain everyone's trust in the 1907 Nord-Paris meeting, which served as annual test matches for the French national team, as he helped Nord to a 4–1 win.

[2][3][4][7] Due to his military service, Baton was not always available in 1908, thus avoiding some historic thrashings, including a 0–12 loss inflicted by the English just two weeks later, on 23 March,[2] and then in October, he was once again unavailable to honor USFSA's selection for the French B squad that competed in the football tournament of the 1908 Olympic Games in London, which ended up being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Denmark 0–9.

[2] He was not only the team captain until 1914, instructing his teammates on certain specificities of the game, but also a member of the editorial board of the French newspaper La Vie Sportive du Nord, where he signed many articles, including an interview in which he recounts his childhood and first steps in football.

[7] In November 1915, he was wounded by 4 bullets and a bayonet blow during the attack on a village by the Bulgarians, who then picked him up and treated him in Uskub (currently Skopje, in North Macedonia) before taking him prisoner.

[2] Rather than being content to remain wisely in his prison camp and wait for the end of hostilities, he instead tried to escape, being wounded again, this time seriously as it became necessary to amputate his left arm in its upper third while he was in captivity.

[2] Baton was considered a war hero in his country,[16] and likewise, in April 1918, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour as a second lieutenant in the 284th Infantry Regiment.

[7] In November 1925, the French newspaper Le Miroir des sports published an article about the current whereabouts of several pre-war players, and it stated that "Baton, seriously wounded in the war in Salonika, died recently".