Description
2002 Hall of Famer.
Signed as a pitcher by the Boston Red Sox in 1951, Bill Slack?s professional baseball career would span six decades. As a rookie with Roanoke of the Class-B Piedmont League, Slack won 15 games and hit .361. His finest of 13 minor league seasons was in 1957, when notched 16 wins and posted a 2.24 ERA for Albany of the Class-A Eastern League. He would reach the Triple-A level in the Boston chain, before opting to focus on a coaching career.
Il a débuté comme gérant dans l’organisation des Red Sox en 1961 et a passé 13 saisons à Winston-Salem, en Caroline, une équipe de niveau A. Au cours de cette période, il a gagné quatre championnats et a dirigé de futures vedettes tel que Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk et Jim Lonborg. Lorsque les Sox ont quitté la Ligue de la Caroline en 1985, les Braves d’Atlanta ont embauché Slack en tant qu’instructeur des lanceurs dans les ligues mineures. Il a été à leur emploi pendant 14 ans, peaufinant les techniques, entre autres, de Steve Avery, John Smoltz et Tom Glavine.
Slack attempted to retire in 1999, but the Texas Rangers convinced him to accept a minor league coaching role in 2001 and he would serve as the pitching coach for Carolina League?s Wilmington Blue Rocks in the Kansas City Royals organization the following two years. A legend in Winston-Salem, Slack has more wins than any other manager in Carolina League history. For his efforts, he was named the manager on the Carolina League all-time, all-star team in 1995 and his No. 37 is honoured on the left field wall at Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem.
