Underhanded
Underhanded is a Player Modification, first seen during the Season β19 Elections via the Underhanded Blessing.
Effects
When a pitcher with Underhanded modification allows a Home Run, any Runs scored off the home run will become Unruns, while any Unruns scored will become Runs. Any follow-up Runs (scored off Big Buckets or Hoops) will maintain their polarity.
Underhanded has no effect on batters.
History
In the Season β19 Earlsiesta, The Reader added four blessings to the Election Ballot, including the Underhanded blessing, with the following description:
Make contact, I dare you. Make a random Player in your Team's Rotation Underhanded. Home Runs will be Unruns against them.
The LA Unlimited Tacos won the hotly-contested blessing, with 16% of the vote. 8,599,791 votes were cast in total, and Michelle Sportsman on the Tacos' rotation received the Underhanded Modification. Sportsman promptly showcased the modification in their opening game of Season 20, winning the game 4 - -1 after the Boston Flowers' Chambers Simmons hit a home run in the fourth inning. As the season progressed, the effects of the gaining Underhanded became apparent - as Sportsman became the first player to achieve a negative ERA, ending the regular season winning 28 of their 32 games.
Sportsman's Season 20 performance spurred sixteen separate teams to capitalise on the Underhanded Cap Drop option in the Season 20 Gift Shop. Along with further drops of Underhanded Items from Community Chests, Underhanded pitchers dominated throughout Seasons 21 and 22, and Underhanded Items were a popular target for Take Wills.
Underhanded was offered as a permanent Blessing for a second time in the Season β23 Elections, through the Season 19: Underhanded Blessing. The Kansas City Breath Mints won the blessing, and the modification was applied to Mooney Doctor II.
