The original fabulous baker boy.

Towards the end of the late fifties Hibs unleashed a goalscoring phenonemon on the world, and his name was Joe Baker. Perhaps we do no fully appreciate what he achieved, or what he might have achieved but for a car crash in Italy. Despite this set back this was a player good enough to be named in the provisional squad of 40 for Englands successful World Cup Campaign in 1966, although he failed to be selected for the final 22. His goalscoring feats, were however legendary, and he is fondly remembered wherever he went.

Joe was born in Liverpool, on the 17th July 1940 of Scottish parents. He was a devasting forward and joined Hibs from Coltness United in 1956. The use of the word devastating is probably over used these days. But in Joes case it scarcely scratches the surface of his achievements. He was a Scottish schoolboy international, but was called up by England manager Walter Winterbottom to play against Northern Ireland in November 1959, at the age of 19.

Baker, asked a taxi driver to take him to the England hotel. However, when he told the London taxi driver, in his broad Scottish accent that he was to play for England, the driver slid his partition closed and radioed the police for help! Thankfully the incident was resolved, and Joe, unsurprisingly scored on his Wembley debut. In his time at Hibs he scored an incredbile 16 hat tricks.

He did some incredible things in a Hibs jersey. Against Hearts in a Scottish Cup tie on March 1 1958, he scored 4 goals as a 17 year old. That was the season Hearts won the league by 13 points. The crowd was 41,666 at Tynecastle and the final score was 4-3.

Perhaps the most under stated of his achievements was his 42 league goals in 1959/60. If the golden boot had been invented back then, he would have won it.

In 1961, after 102 goals in 117 league appearances, he headed for Torino in Italy. He was the first player to leave the Scottish League to play in Serie A: just as he was the first Englishman to play for the national side whilst playing "abroad". His time in Italy was marred by a car accident, but he still managed to score 7 goals in 19 games for the Turin side.

In 1962, he returned to the UK to play for Arsenal and £72,500 changed hands. He his still fondly remembered at Arsenal, an announcement on their official web site paid tribute to him: "Joe was a crowd-pleaser. Flamboyant, brave and blessed with dynamic acceleration which was especially effective in short, sharp bursts. His close control was brilliant and he liked the ball at his feet no matter how tightly he was marked."

"Baker was football equivalent of the laughing cavalier, and for sheer excitement, Arsenal have not seen his like since."

In his three and a half year stint at Arsenal, he scored 93 league goals in 144 league appearances. In 1966 Nottingham Forest paid £62,000 to take him to the City ground. He was affectionately called Zigga-Zagga in his time there and managed 41 league goals in 118 games before he moved onto Sunderland in 1969 for a fee of £30,000.

His time at Sunderland started badly, as the Black Cats plunged into the Old Second Division. He had just started to score freely again, when the Mackems accepted a bid from Hibs in January 1971. At the age of 30, and for a fee of £14,000 he headed back to his stomping ground after 12 league goals for Sunderland in 41 appearances.

Back at Hibs, and under the Turnbull revolution, his first appearance back coincided with a Hibs victory over high flying Aberdeen. Sadly his sojourn at Hibs was not to last long, and after 12 goals in 30 appearances, he headed off to Raith Rovers where he retired from football soon afterwards.

Rod Petrie today paid this tribute:

"Everyone at the club is shocked and saddened by the news. Joe was a welcome regular at Easter Road and was greatly admired by all those who had the pleasure of meeting him. Our thoughts are with Joe's family and friends at this time."

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Joe Baker