text: University of Western Ontario professor Bob Barney researched the oldest verified baseball game played in Canada, based on a letter from Dr. Adam E. Ford of Denver, Colorado, formerly of St. Marys, Ontario, and Beachville, Ontario, to the editor of Sporting Life, published on May 5, 1886. In the letter, Ford described in detail a game he witnessed on June 4, 1838—Militia Muster Day, played in Beachville, Ontario. Barney verified the names of participants and descriptions of the field; by researching tax forms, census records, maps, church records, and tombstones, and found that all of the participants and details in Ford's letter were correct.
  The Journal of Sport History published Barney's findings in 1988. The Canadian claim to the oldest verified baseball game was subsequently recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Barney opined that following the American Revolution, settlers in Southwestern Ontario brought their recreational activities. Ted Spencer, curator of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and historian Tom Heitz, noted that records exist of earlier bat and ball games played in the United States that evolved into baseball, and agreed that American settlers in Canada likely brought the game with them.
  Originally, the rules of the game were informal in nature and often modified to reflect regional preferences.
  In Ontario, a variant of baseball known as "The Canadian Game" was most prevalent. It featured five bases, bats that resembled those used in cricket or rounders and eleven players per team. All eleven players went to bat each inning, which would not end until they were all retired.