1971 Pan American Games

The 1971 Pan American Games were the sixth Pan American Games. They were held at Diamante de Béisbol in Calì, Valle del Cauca, Colombia from July 31 through August 9, 1971. The Games were won by Cuba, starting a string of 10 consecutive Pan Am Gold Medals in baseball (through 2007).

Cuba went 8-0 to take home the Gold. Wilfredo Sanchez (.333) led the event with 2 triples and 10 RBI, tied with Armando Capiro (.314) in the latter department. Top hitters were Rigoberto Rosique (.455), Lazaro Perez (.438) and Agustin Marquetti (.387). Felix Isasi (.382) led the event with 6 doubles. Rolando Macias (2-0, 0.59), Emilio Salgado (1-0, 0.90), Braudilio Vinent (1-0, 1.35) and Jose Antonio Huelga (2-0, 1.72) led the staff.

United States won Silver. They went 6-2 in trying to defend their 1967 Gold, with a close 4-3 loss to Cuba in which Fred Lynn, Fred Mims and Jerry Tabb homered. Lynn led the tourney with four home runs. Jay Smith led all pitchers with 21 strikeouts. Alan Bannister was named tourney MVP.

Colombia may have benefited from home field advantage in winning its only Medal in the Pan Am Games (through 2007). They went 4-4 before topping Canada 7-6 in the final match. Luis Escobar hit .552 to lead the Games.

Canada went 4-4 before dropping the Bronze Medal game to Colombia. They were led by pitchers Glennis Scott (0 R in 8 IP), George Brice (1.17), Ross Stone (1.84) and Fred Cardwell (2.13) while Al Robertson had their best average (.400).

Puerto Rico was 3-5 to tie for 5th. Luis Mercado paced the Games with 16 hits.

Venezuela tied for 5th at 3-5.

Dominican Republic, managed by Rafael Luis López, also was 3-5 to tie for 5th. Miguel Dilone led the Games with 3 steals while José Joaquín Tineo led in innings pitched (20 1/3).

Nicaragua was the 4th team to go 3-5 in a closely matched tournament. Cirilo Herrington tied for the most triples (2) while Antonio Herradora led with a 0.00 ERA.