Intercity baseball tournament
The Black Lion Flag, one of the tournament trophies and symbol of the tournament | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1927 |
| Organising body | JABA Mainichi Shimbun |
| No. of teams | 32 |
| Country | Japan |
| Venue(s) | Tokyo Dome |
| Most recent champion(s) | Yokohama (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East) |
| Most titles | Team: ENEOS (12) City: Tokyo (14) |
| Broadcaster(s) | NHK, J Sports |
| Streaming partner(s) | Mainichi website JABAstation |
| Sponsor(s) | Mainichi Shimbun MIC |
| Related competitions | The Industrial National Championship Tournament |
| Official website | JABA website Mainichi website |
The intercity baseball tournament (都市対抗野球大会 Toshi Taikō yakyū taikai) of Japan, commonly known as "Summer All-star or Mid-Summer Classic" (真夏の球宴 manatsu no kyūen), is an annual nationwide industrial baseball tournament in Japan, organized by JABA and Mainichi Shimbun and sponsored by the japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) by the grounds that "regional development is promoted through tournaments between teams that represent their cities."
The tournament is considered very traditional in japanese baseball, since it predates the Professional Baseball and it is a way to reinforce the traditional regional sport rivalities existing across Japan, unlike the Industrial National Championship Tournament, the teams must represent the name of their town and use the flag or the seal/symbol of their cities in the right sholder of uniforms.
The winners are awarded the "Black Lion Flag" (黒獅子旗 kurojishi ki), runners-up are awarded the "White Lion Flag" (白獅子旗 shirojishi ki).