'Kranks' assemble! Elmhurst to showcase vintage baseball this weekend

A baseball game in Philadelphia between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Brooklyn Atlantics, 22nd October 1866. Photo credit Hulton Archive/Getty Images

By Terry Keshner

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — They'll be playing baseball "the old fashioned way" in Elmhurst on Saturday.

Dave Oberg, executive director of the Elmhurst History Museum, said city of Elmhurst and Elmhurst University staff players will be facing off in seven innings of 1858 rules baseball.

“It's bare-handed baseball, really fast moving — the rules are wildly different,” he said.

“The ball is considered fair or foul based only where it touches the ground, it doesn't matter what it touched beforehand. And a ball caught on the first bounce is also an out,” Oberg added.

The vernacular is delightfully old school. Fans are known, among other terms, as 'kranks.'

“‘The blooper’ is a really bad play,” Oberg said. “‘Show a little ginger' means give it the gas or play a little harder.”

A "lobster" is a villainous or hated player, but the ultimate taunt might be: "Go back to Hackensack!"

The Elmhurst University team will be led by President Troy VanAken, while Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin will take the reins of the City of Elmhurst team.

Oberg will oversee the activities in the role of “barrister” — also known as an umpire — and share the rules and slang terms with the audience.

"It's always a really spirited game," Oberg said. “But it's always a very gentlemanly game. Players will actually call themselves out, they will applaud each other, opposing teams for good play.”

He said it’s very family-friendly.