William Grover Slayback (February 21, 1948 – March 25, 2015) was an American professional baseball pitcher.

Slayback made his Major League Baseball debut with the Tigers on June 26, 1972, against the New York Yankees.

Slayback had multiple other impressive starts for the Tigers in the 1972 season ... on July 20, he struck out 13 batters and allowed 5 hits while beating the Texas Rangers, 5–1.

Just 4 days prior to that, he pitched a complete game-shutout, going the full 9 innings in a 2–0 win over the Kansas City Royals on July 16.

Slayback started 13 games for the 1972 Tigers, compiling a record of 5–6 with a 3.20 earned run average.

Released in the United States and Japan, the song got airplay on radio and the NBC Game of the Week.