William Alvan Faul (April 21, 1940 – February 21, 2002) was an American Major League Baseball player, a right-handed pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants (1962–66; 1970). He stood tall and weighed . Born in Cincinnati, Faul attended Goshen High School. Playing alongside his brother Jerry, Faul helped Goshen win the 1958 Ohio state baseball championship, then he played baseball at the University of Cincinnati, where he set the school's strikeout record and once fanned 24 batters in a game. Faul signed with the Tigers in 1962. Assigned to the Knoxville Smokies of the Sally League, he won six of eight decisions and posted a 2.10 earned run average. After a one-game major-league trial late in 1962, Faul spent the entire season with the Tigers. Working as a swing man, he appeared in 28 games pitched, ten as a starter, won five of 11 decisions, had two complete games and one save. But Faul also gained a reputation as one of his buttoned-up era's more free-spirited players and struggled under old-school manager Chuck Dressen after Dressen took command of the Tigers in mid-season. Faul spent all but one game of the campaign in Triple-A, where he compiled an outstanding win–loss record (11–1) but a high earned run average (4.05) for the Syracuse Chiefs. The Tigers then sold his contract to Cubs during spring training in . The deal set up Faul's most successful big-league campaign. It began inauspiciously when he was roughed up during an April relief appearance against his hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds. The outing earned Faul another trip to Triple-A, where he spent two months in the Pacific Coast League. Recalled in July and eventually plugged into the second-division Cubs' starting rotation, Faul worked in 17 games (including 16 starts), threw five complete games and three shutouts, including a two-hitter and a three-hitter. The 1965 Cubs tied a major league record by turning three triple plays, and Faul was the pitcher on each occasion. At one point that season, Faul credited the success he was having to his having the ability to hypnotize himself and batters. For the year, Faul posted a 6–6 record and set a personal best with a 3.54 earned run average. He began working out of the bullpen for the Cubs' new manager, Leo Durocher, but got a chance to start on May 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies