John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (1886-1963), a native of Trappe, became baseball's first great home run hero during the Deadball Era, when over-the-fence home runs were rare and the game was dominated by slap hitters, base stealing, and hit-and-run play. As a 23-year-old Philadelphia Athletics rookie, he hit his only grand slam over the fence in Boston on April 24, 1909, then hit the first home run in the new Shibe Park on May 29. He earned the name "Home Run" Baker with two game-changing home runs in the 1911 World Series and led the American League in home runs for four straight years from 1911 to 1914, with 11, 10, 12, and 9. Playing third base for the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Yankees, he hit 96 career home runs, starred as part of Connie Mack's "$100,000 infield," and was regarded by many as the best third baseman of the pre-World War I era. His greatest moments came on successive days in the 1911 World Series, when he hit out-of-the-park home runs off Rube Marquard and Christy Mathewson to help the Athletics win in six games, and he further strengthened his fame in 1913 by clearing the fence a dozen times, striking Shibe Park's right field fence 38 times, and homering again in the World Series. After the 1922 season, Baker retired from professional baseball, returned to Trappe, ran his farms, and became a respected community leader, serving on the Trappe Town Board from 1923, including as president in 1932-33, and also serving as tax collector and as a director of the State Bank of Trappe and the Trappe Volunteer Fire Company. He remained involved with baseball through autograph seekers, Old Timers games, managing the Easton team of the Eastern Shore League, discovering Jimmie Foxx of Sudlersville, and working with Little League players, and in 1955 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.