Baker is a city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,793 at the 2000 census. The City of Baker is known as a Great American Hometown. Ossie Brown, who served as East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney from 1972—1984, grew up in Baker and graduated from Baker High School. While a student there, he composed the Baker High alma mater Former Louisiana State Senator Mike Cross was the mayor of Baker from 1976-1981, having been preceded and succeeded in the latter position by Norman E. "Pete" Heine. Heine's successor, Bobby Simpson, a Republican, became the East Baton Rouge mayor-president in 2001. Former Louisiana State Representative Tony Perkins resided in Baker until he relocated to Washington, D.C. , to head the Family Research Council. W.W. Dumas, the East Baton Rouge Parish mayor-president from 1965-1980, was from Baker, where he relocated after World War II to play semi-professional baseball.