Bill Slack

Who is Bill Slack?

William Henry Slack is a retired Canadian professional baseball pitcher, manager and coach, and a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Although he never played Major League Baseball, Slack spent 50 years at the minor league level, and was a longtime member of the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves organizations. In his playing days, he threw right-handed, batted left-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds.

A former minor pro hockey player who toiled in the Montreal Canadiens' organization, Slack signed with the Red Sox in 1952, and won 15 games in his rookie season for the Roanoke Red Sox of the Class B Piedmont League. Slack then joined the Albany Senators of the Class A Eastern League, posting a sparkling 2.22 earned run average in 1954 and winning 16 games with a 2.24 ERA in 1957. He reached the highest minor league level with the San Francisco Seals and the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League and the Louisville Colonels, Indianapolis Indians and Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, but pitched in only 70 games over parts of five seasons with those teams. All told, Slack won 79 games and lost 63 with a 3.45 ERA as a pitcher in the minor leagues. He also was an accomplished batter in those pre-designated hitter days, batting .361 for the 1952 Roanoke club.