OK, play it again one more time. At first, I thought I was reading the satirical Onion when I saw an interview with former Saks/Neiman’s/HBC/Lord & Taylor/etc., self-styled entrepreneur. He said he “saved” luxury department store retailing in the country. Really? We know he owes Chanel, Zegna and Akris more than $700 million. We’ve lambasted Baker more than once and after his exit from the Saks Global business earlier this year when they filed for bankruptcy, we figured we might not have a chance to kick him around anymore. So, this interview in The New York Times was a bonus treat. How else would we have had the chance to hear him say he was the only person “on Earth” who could have kept those businesses and going for as long they did. He also said, “I’m happy to be out of the department store business.” So are we.  He may be the only person “on Earth” to consistently leave scorched retail earth behind him. Maybe, just maybe the Richard Baker Misses are coming to an end. But let’s not forget his family owns a real estate company with over 10 million square feet of shopping centers.