Slagle grew up in Larned, Kansas and attended a high school too small to field a baseball team. He instead played PONY League Baseball and, while attending Hutchinson Community College, American Legion Baseball. After a year at Hutchinson, he transferred to Kansas where he played for the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team for two years. He sat out one season due to an arm injury.
Slagle pitched two perfect innings of relief for the Yankees in 1979, his only Major League appearance. He was removed from the roster shortly thereafter to make room for pitcher Rick Anderson.
Slagle played his last professional season with the Yankees' Double-A Nashville Sounds in 1982. His playing career ended after he tore his rotator cuff for a second time. As of 2016[update], he was teaching and coaching high school baseball in Frontenac, Kansas.

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