Reilly or Baker?

[King Paddy]

A question to some older folk out there who was the better centre forward Lawrie Reilly or Joe Baker. I am presently reading The autobiography of Lawrie Reilly and would be interested in opinions as to who was the best.

[sahib]

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A question to some older folk out there who was the better centre forward Lawrie Reilly or Joe Baker. I am presently reading The autobiography of Lawrie Reilly and would be interested in opinions as to who was the best.

There can not be many, who read this MB and saw them both play in their prime.
JDships is the most likely.

[phoenixfire]

One of these questions that cant be answerd like which of your children
you love best
Lawrie and Joe were both brilliant different styles but highly effective
sadly I doubt we will ever see their likes again:notworthy:

[banarc7062]

Just missed out on seing Lawrie play but certainly saw Joe who showed his scoring abilities by being selected to play full England international while playing for Hibs. Says it all. As has been mentioned in another post both great players and quite difficult to select "better" of the two. They were great Hibees, GGTTH

[Removed]

I asked 2 'older' gentlemen who saw both of them play and the score is 1 all. Both legends and impossible to make a clear choice from what I have read and heard.

[Dan Sarf]

I saw them both play and state with certainty is was Reilly. Or Baker.

[--------]

Not old enough to have seen Lawrie Reilly. Baker was magnificent - the complete centre-forward, deadly in the box with either foot or his head, could ghost past his man as if he wasn't there, a master of link-up play - he had everything a world-class striker requires and then some.

My father saw them both, and he told me that Reilly was magnificent - the complete centre-forward, deadly in the box with either foot or his head, could ghost past his man as if he wasn't there, a master of link-up play - he had everything a world-class striker requires and then some.

I hope this clears the matter up for you....

:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::notwo rthy:

[brog]

It's like trying to decide who's the smarmier - Cameron or Clegg!!
Seriously, it's pretty much impossible to improve on the prior responses, especially Doddies so I'll just leave you with a couple of stats from the wonderful IHibs section of this site.
Lawrie was 2 weeks shy of his 17th birthday when he made his debut for Hibs & was at the advanced age of 17 years & 27 days when he scored his first goal. Joe was a late developer , he was 17 & 28 days when he made his debut & it took him another 59 days before he scored. Mind you he did get 21 that season, Lawrie's last, including of course the 4 at Tynecastle in the cup.
Now that's a youth policy!!

[heretoday]

I'm glad to say I'm not quite old enough to have seen Reilly or Baker in his first Hibs incarnation. I did see Gordon Smith playing for Dundee.

Baker came back to Hibs in 1970 and gave us all a boost so I go with him.

They were both great.

[Jim44]

As a ten year old, I remember seeing Reilly at the very end of his career and thought he was still terrific. However I always associate Baker with the modern era and the growth of European football. Maybe it's just because I saw Baker developing and playing more extensively but I think he was narrowly the better player.

[Codheed]

Only one way to find out - Fiiiiggghhhhttttt !!!!!

[WindyMiller]

I only have faint memories of Joe, but I feel that the fact that he played for other clubs, in other leagues, and was still successful must give him the edge over Laurie.
His 4 goals in the Cup against the best Hearts team ever would also be a major point for me.

[The Harp]

Very difficult one to call. I'm fortunate enough to have seen them both play for Hibs. However, I was only a kid of 11 when Lawrie played his last game for Hibs in '58 so I didn't fully appreciate how good he was whereas I was fully aware of Joe's ability.
There's no doubt that Lawrie benefitted from playing in a much better Hibs side than Joe so maybe the success Joe enjoyed at ER was more of an achievement. But I honestly wouldn't place one above the other. Sorry to sit on the fence on this one.

[thebakerboy]

Saw both play but don't really remember Reilly to well except through my old mans memories and he was a Smith man. As you can see from my avatar Joe was my hero but if he was better than Reilly I don't really know , god its toooooooo difficult , I just love goal scoring Hibees and there are not enough of them now.:notworthy::notworthy:

[WeAreHibs]

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Only one way to find out - Fiiiiggghhhhttttt !!!!!

In that case, the answer is THIS

[Sunny1875]

Do you like a cheese and ham sandwich or a ham and cheese sandwich ?

[heretoday]

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Do you like a cheese and ham sandwich or a ham and cheese sandwich ?

I never saw the cheese sandwich in its pomp but the ham certainly beefed up the Hibs when it played.

So I'll go with the ham although I was lucky enough to see the pork when it played briefly for Hearts.

[killie-hibby]

I first attended Easter Road towards the end of the Famous Five era. Dont remember seeing Reilly play, certainly was fortunate enough to see Johnstone and Ormond in the team.
My memory still allows me to remember Joe Baker with great clarity, it seems like yesterday. He was sensational. Genuine world class. Would have stayed with Hibs had his request for a £5 a week rise been granted by Harry Swan.He would have been earning slightly more than a tradesman. Like most players in the fifties/sixties he was no different from the supporters in that he travelled by bus,regularly attended the Fountanbridge Palais and bought his suits from Hepworth and John Collier. ( In those days most supporters attended games wearing ties and jackets).
When Joe left Hibs crowds dropped significantly. The first match after he left was a Wednesday night league game against St.Mirren , only 10000 turned up. Normally we would have 15000 when playing teams like St.Mirren,Stirling Albion and Third Lanark.
Regards who was the better player, I dont know. If Joe was a player nowadays he would be a multimillonaire with someone like Barcelona, Madrid,Man United or Chelsea. On reflection he was classy, therefore more likely to have preffered Italy as was his choice when leaving us.
In recent times we have seen Oconner et al leave,causing us dissapointment,with anger directed towards the directors. That was insignificant when compared with the vacuum,feelings of emptyness and disbelief when Joe left.
I am now inspired to go into the loft and look for my " Joe Baker Quiz Book".

[jdships]

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There can not be many, who read this MB and saw them both play in their prime.
JDships is the most likely.

Thankyou for that
I played against Reilly rwice in my very short career and rhen watched Baker regularly as a supporter
They were two completely different types of players IMO
LR ' s close control was brillianrt and as you all know he could play at No11 with ease while his goalscoring prowess is well documented
JB could turn a game with his pace and quickness of thought and could "get you out of your seat" through this
Again his goalscoring speaks for itself.

Very difficult one to call IMO
Reilly was an important cog in a well oiled machine - "The Famous Five" - which was in turn was an integral part of Hibs success in the 40's/50's
For that reason I go for "Last Minute Reilly"

As the song says " When will we see there likes again?"

[GreenCastle]

Speaking with people who saw them play -

Joe Baker edges it - 301 goals in 507 games isn't bad Went through many injuries and still achieved so much.

Reilly was also a great player 185 goals in 253 games - didn't have the pace of Joe but was great to watch during his time.