I’m 62. When I was a kid in Chicago, we used to play a softball game called Piggy Move Up. As I recall, it was a way to play softball (16", of course!) with a limited number of players. But I can’t recall the exact rules.
I couldn’t find much on-line other than this:
We used to play a version of softball using a limited number of players that was called “Piggy Move Up.” Lacking enough kids to have teams we used as many kids as we had to pitch, catch, play the bases and the outfield. As I remember it whoever won the toss was the first to bat. If the batter got a hit the catcher became the batter and the pitcher became the catcher. The progression carried on on a predetermined order agreed upon.
That gives a sense of what I remember, but doesn’t really explain the game. For example, did you need at least 4 players to have an outfielder and play pitcher’s hand out, with invisible base runners?
I seem to recall playing it most on family picnics with my dad and 3 sisters, so we had 5 players.
This morning I asked 2 golfing partners if they remembered the game. They both did, but didn’t remember the rules. They were both from Chicago, 1 is 70, the other 82. So maybe it is an old time Chicago game… My dad taught it to us, and he was born in Chicago in 1920.
It sounds like the game usually called N Old Cat where N was the number of bases used (up to four) depending on how many players there were. You scored individually, but typically we never kept score, just played.
The version I played was “Work Ups”. Players would rotate in and out (batter to outfield to infield to pitcher to catcher to batter) if they were out at 1st base or if they couldn’t make it home. Whenever someone was “out”, the players would rotate.
Depending on how many players we had, there were 2 or 3 “up” and the rest were on the field. Fielding positions depended on how many were playing, some times limited to pitcher, shortstop and left field. If there weren’t enough for a 1st baseman, the rule was “pitcher’s hand”–you were out if the pitcher had the ball before you could reach 1st base.
In the case of fly balls, the fielder catching the fly would swap places with the batter.
Your description is almost exactly how we played, although we called it ‘Work Up’. If you made an out, you went to right field, and everybody moved up a position. (I can’t remember the exact order.)
We also added a rule that if an individual scored four times, she or he went to right field and everybody moved up. This prevented the best player(s) from batting all the time.