A native of Haverford, Pennsylvania (located about 10 miles west of Philadelphia), Baird was the son of Thomas E. Baird. Baird attended the Haverford Grammar School followed by preparatory school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. Baird played fullback for the St. Paul's football team before enrolling at Princeton in 1895. He was 5 feet, 9½ inches tall, and weighed 155 pounds in 1895, making him a light player even by the standards of the 1890s. As freshman, he played on Princeton's varsity football team. A newspaper account in 1895 described the 18-year-old Baird as "a good bucker and an accurate drop kicker".