A baseball that has traveled long enough deals 50% more base damage, but does not necessarily trigger a moonshot. Despite being a projectile, the baseball is considered a melee weapon, meaning it uses the higher critical chance of melee weapons and deals double damage to Heavies that have the Fists of Steel active. Baseballs can be picked up off the ground, whether owned by the player or another Scout, or by visiting a Resupply locker. Baseballs are not classed as ammunition and thus cannot be retrieved by picking up (dropped) ammo packs. A baseball that does not hit an enemy remains on the ground and disappears after 10 seconds, effectively the time it takes the Scout to gain a new one. After slowing an enemy, it disappears much more quickly - only 4 seconds[1] - but can still be picked up and used again if acquired before it disappears. As a projectile, the ball arcs towards the ground and can be deflected by an enemy Pyro. The ball can also hit and bounce off of enemy grenades, Jarate, Mad Milk, and even enemy Scout baseballs.
Scouts carrying the Sandman lose 15 max health points, lowering their base health to 110. The weapon is therefore suited to support tactics, as it places the player at greater risk of death during combat.
February 24, 2009 Patch (
Scout Update)
- The Sandman was added to the game. The baseball is automatically fired if available upon primary fire; there is no alt-fire ability. It applies immobilizing stun at any distance and is capable of stunning ÜberCharged enemies in exchange for disabling the Scout's double jump and dealing half damage to unstunned targets.
February 25, 2009 Patch
- Removed the damage reduction against non-stunned enemies on the Sandman.
- Fixed the BONK! particles appearing in the air when this weapon's taunt kill is used on a target.
March 13, 2009 Patch
- Players who are stunned by a ball now take 50% less damage.
- The minimum distance to stun a player using this weapon was increased.
May 26, 2009 Patch
- Fixed kill descriptions for Force-A-Nature & Sandman so server logs can distinguish them.
August 13, 2009 Patch (Classless Update)
- The Sandman's stun effect went under numerous changes.
- Players using this weapon will now receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun.
- Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%.
- ÜberCharged players can no longer be stunned.
- Heavies spinning their Miniguns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed).
- The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced.
- The negative attribute was changed from "no double jump" to "-30 max health".
- [Undocumented] Primary fire for the Sandman now swings the bat, while alt-fire now launches the baseball.
- [Undocumented] Added swinging animations to the Sandman when a Scout swings the bat with the ball still in his hand.
December 17, 2009 Patch (WAR! Update)
- The Sandman will only stun on a max range hit.
- All shorter hits now force the enemy into the third-person fleeing state (also removed the damage reduction on them).
- A recharge sound was added to the Sandman's recharge ability.
December 22, 2009 Patch
- Updated the Baseball's HUD indicator to stay on screen when full.
January 6, 2010 Patch
- Reduced the health penalty on the Sandman to "-15 max health".
January 13, 2010 Patch
- Fixed this weapon being able to bat balls through doors.
April 28, 2010 Patch
- Added a slight speed reduction to stunned players.
May 12, 2010 Patch
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was added to the Pain Train's crafting blueprint.
July 8, 2010 Patch (Engineer Update)
- The Sandman now uses the Bat kill icon, while the ball's stun uses the existing Sandman's kill icon.
September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was added in the Holy Mackerel's crafting blueprint.
October 12, 2010 Patch
December 21, 2010 Patch
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was added in the Ullapool Caber's crafting blueprint.
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was added in the Boston Basher's crafting blueprint.
January 7, 2011 Patch
- The Sandman was given a unique kill icon.
February 14, 2011 Patch
- Fixed the Sandman's melee attack not destroying remote detonation pipes (Stickybombs).
March 15, 2011 Patch
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was removed from the Ullapool Caber's crafting blueprint.
June 23, 2011 Patch
- [Undocumented] The Sandman was added in the Atomizer's crafting blueprint.
July 12, 2011 [Item schema update]
July 22, 2011 Patch
- [Undocumented] The stun attribute wording was changed from "This bat knocks out a mean stun ball" to "Alt-fire: Launches a ball that stuns opponents."
- [Undocumented] Fixed a Heads-up display bug in which the ball recharge meter for The Sandman would show the improper amount of charge under certain circumstances.
December 21, 2011 Patch
- Refined recoil force for the Sandman.
July 20, 2012 Patch
- Fixed the Strange Sandman not accepting the Posthumous Kills strange part.
November 12, 2013 Patch
December 21, 2016 Patch (Smissmas 2016)
February 14, 2017 Patch
- Fixed some missing VO sounds for the Scout when he picks up a baseball.
October 20, 2017 Patch (Jungle Inferno Update)
- Changed attributes:
- Long-range ball impacts no longer remove the victim's ability to fire their weapon but the victim is still slowed.
- Max range balls now do 50% increased damage from a base of 15.
- The flight time required to trigger the max effect has been reduced by 20%.
- Ball regeneration time reduced to 10 seconds.
March 28, 2018 Patch #1
- Fixed the Sandman projectiles colliding with invisible objects in team spawn rooms.
June 7, 2018 Patch
- Fixed Scouts not being able to pick-up the Sandman's baseball.