Rac Slider

Who is Rac Slider?

Rachel Wayne "Rac" Slider is a retired infielder and manager in American minor league baseball who also spent four seasons as a Major League Baseball coach with the Boston Red Sox. In his playing days, Slider stood 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 160 pounds, batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Slider graduated from James Bowie High School in Simms in 1951, and signed his first professional baseball contract in 1954. During an 11-year playing career he never reached the major league level, although he spent four seasons in the Triple A Pacific Coast League. In his finest year in the PCL, with the 1961 Hawaii Islanders, Slider batted .300, with 154 hits, 75 runs scored, and a career-high 7 home runs. In 1962, the Kansas City Athletics sold Slider's contract to the Red Sox, and he spent the remainder of his career in the Boston organization.

He managed Bosox farm clubs for 21 consecutive seasons, 1965–1985, beginning in the Rookie-level Appalachian League and culminating as the pilot of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League. Slider spent nine seasons as skipper of the Red Sox' Winter Haven affiliate in the Class A Florida State League. He won pennants in 1970 and 1979. In 1983, his New Britain Red Sox won the Double-A Eastern League playoffs behind first-year pitcher Roger Clemens. Overall, his managerial record was 1,275–1,405 in 2,680 games.