William Baker

William Frazer Baker (1866 – December 4, 1930) was the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League from through and New York City Police Commissioner from 1909 to 1910. Early life Baker was born in Pittsburgh in 1866. After leaving school he went to work for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad as a messenger boy. In 1885 he moved to Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where he worked as a secretary to industrialist William P. Shinn, worked in the railroad and oil businesses, and was in the contracting business with his brother, and was a clerk for the W. N. Coler & Co. banking house. Government service In 1898, Baker was hired as a secretary to New York City Comptroller Bird Sim Coler. Baker was active in Coler's 1902 gubernatorial campaign. Following Coler's loss, Baker went to work on Wall Street. In 1905, Baker returned to government service as a member of the New York City Civil Service Commission. He was made president of the board the following year. In 1908, Baker switched jobs with first deputy police commissioner Arthur J. O'Keeffe. He was in charge of Brooklyn and Queens until 1909 when he was transferred to police headquarters and placed in charge of the bureau of repairs and supplies. On July 1, 1909, Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. fired police commissioner Theodore A. Bingham and promoted Baker to succeed him. During his brief tenure, he was accused of interfering in gambling investigations. Baker was one of two department heads retained by McClellan's successor William Jay Gaynor. He resigned from his position on October 20, 1910.