Baseball in Canada dates back to the 19th century, and is played at various levels of competition throughout the country. There is currently one Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Toronto Blue Jays, founded in 1977. Canada's first MLB team, the Montreal Expos, formed in 1969 and relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005. Around 75 Canadian communities have been home to Minor League Baseball teams. There is currently one minor-league team, the Vancouver Canadians, an affiliate of the Blue Jays competing in the High-A Northwest League. There are also several teams that compete in independent baseball leagues, such as the Trois-Rivières Aigles of the Frontier League and the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association. Notable amateur leagues include the Intercounty Baseball League (Ontario), Ligue de Baseball Majeur du Québec (Quebec), and the collegiate Western Canadian Baseball League (Alberta and Saskatchewan). There are additionally amateur-level baseball teams playing in each province in the summer months under the auspices of Baseball Canada. Several American-based collegiate leagues have teams in Canada. History 19th century Adapted from the British game of rounders — and by extension, cricket — the game of base ball or "townball" became popular in the early 19th century in Southwestern Ontario (then Canada West or Upper Canada), New York and New England. The first documented evidence of a base ball game in Canada comes from a letter published in Sporting Life magazine in 1886, a letter by Dr. Adam E. Ford of Denver, Colorado, formerly of St. Marys, Ontario and Beachville, Ontario, about a game 48 years earlier in Beachville on June 4, 1838 — Militia Muster Day. Many Canadians, including the staff of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Marys, Ontario, claim that this was the first documented game of modern baseball, although there appears to be no evidence that the rules used in this game were codified and adopted in other regions. 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. The American variant of baseball had nine players a side instead of eleven, and four bases