Founded in 1960 by Sonny Hill, the Baker League was basically a four-team league and one of the first to allow and make it feasible for professional players to improve their respective games during the off-season summer through game promotion.
Initially, the pick up games took place outdoors on the North Philadelphia courts, but after a while Temple University's gymnasium became the league's new home of dating.
From the beginning, basketball legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, Earl Monroe, Hal Lear and Guy Rodgers, Gene Banks, Lewis Lloyd, Jerome “Pooh” Richardson to Rasheed Wallace, Lionel Simmons, Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and even Kobe Bryant were attracted by the Baker League for recognizing the importance of the league and for the quality of the players they attended.
Unfortunately the league no longer exists, but all the legacy left by Hall of Fame member Sonny Hill and how the league served as the foundation for the formation of many players, coaches and referees in the country, and now it may be revisited in the documentary produced by Tony Paris, called “The Baker League Story”.