is Pink Lady's seventh single release, released on March 25, 1978. This became their sixth number-one hit on the Oricon Chart in Japan. The single sold 1,800,000 copies, and spent nine weeks at number one on the chart.
According to songwriter Yà « Aku, the song was inspired by Crown Lighter Lions pitcher Tamotsu Nagai, who used an underthrow to strike out Sadaharu Oh at the 1977 All-Star Game.
The dance choreography uses a baseball motif. Traditionally, Mie and Kei wear tank tops and shorts patterned after baseball uniforms.
The duo won the 1978 Japan Music Awards with this song.
According to Oricon, this was the second best selling single from 1978, after "UFO".
The duo also recorded a version of the song with different lyrics as a commercial jingle for .
A re-recorded version of the song was included on the 2-disc greatest hits release, INNOVATION, released in December 2010.
In July 2019, the cheering squad for the Chunichi Dragons stopped playing the song when after Dragons' then manager Tsuyoshi Yoda deemed that a line of a "chance theme" sang on the tune of "Southpaw" was offensive. The chant line in question is ; the use of the term is considered to be rude to players However,on 1 February 2022, following Yoda's dismissal as manager, the team announced that the Southpaw "chance theme" was brought back after a three-year hiatus.
All lyrics are written by Yà « Aku; all music is composed and arranged by Shunichi Tokura.