1997 Intercontinental Cup (baseball)

The 1997 IBAF Intercontinental Cup was held in Barcelona, Spain from August 1 through to August 10, 1997. Eight countries contested the tournament including Cuba, Australia, Italy, Nicaragua, Japan, France, United States of America and the host Spain.^[1] The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation.^{[citation needed]}

The tournament saw the Japan national baseball team stun the Cuba national baseball team in the final, 11-2, ending a 14-year tournament dominance which included 7 tournament golds. The tournament MVP was Australia's Paul Gonzalez.

All-Star team

C: Gary White, Australia (.351/.368/.622)
1B: Orestes Kindelán, Cuba .344/.417/.938, 6 HR, 10 R, 15 RBI)
2B: Yosuke Takasu, Japan (.429/.478/.524)
SS: Omar Linares, Cuba (.367/.444/.633, 9 RBI)
3B: Paul Gonzalez, Australia (.571/.684/1.25, 5 HR, 9 BB, 8 R, 18 RBI)
OF: Luis Ulacia, Cuba (.343/.400/.514, 10 R, 3 SB)
OF: Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japan (.419/.513/1.032, 3 3B, 4 HR, 7 BB, 13 R, 16 RBI)
OF: Chris Magruder, USA (.343/.412/.400, 8 R)
DH: Greg Jelks, Australia (.471/.538/1.088, 6 HR, 10 R, 12 RBI)
P: Koji Uehara, Japan (2-0, 0.53)
P: Akio Shimizu, Japan (2-0, 1.64)