Guesses rated Dalkowski’s fastball at far over 100 mph, even 120. Frank “Beauty” McGowan, a former major leaguer from Branford and a long-time scout, signed him for the Orioles that season, and Dalkowski, with $4,000 and a new car, went to pitch for Kingsport (Tenn.) in the Appalachian League. In one of his first games, he hit a fellow teenager, Bob Beavers, in the side of the head, causing severe bleeding in his left ear and knocking him unconscious. Beavers never played again and, McGowan later suggested the experience shook Dalkowski, who feared he might one day kill someone.