Freddy Jannitto was a member of the Knights of Columbus team that won the Warren Twilight Baseball League Championship in 1922.

In 1933 he flooded his yard at the foot of Hope Street in order to create a skating rink that was made available to the townspeople of Warren for skating and hockey.  In this way he helped to keep kids off the nearby and dangerous Palmer River.  He continued this wonderful gesture until his untimely death in 1968.

The Catholic Youth Organization sponsored a bowling league in 1938, and he managed the Ping team.  The team carried one of his nicknames, which he, in turn, got from the New York Giants outfielder Ping Brodie.  The fact that Brodie was a Giant was ironic, since Freddy was a life-long New York Yankees fan.

During the 1940s and 1950s Ping organized receptions and jacket committees for Warren High School and American Legion Baseball championship teams. 

For many years he and Nick Delekta supplied those Warren High athletes whose teams defeated Colt Memorial squads with Delekta’s Pharmacy’s cabinets and sundaes.  On occasions too numerous to mention, he donated his Main Street floor covering storefront to athletes and non-athletes alike who were sponsoring pie and cake fundraising sales.

He was the founder, along with almost every great Warren baseball star, of Little League Baseball.  Freddy served as the league president from 1954 until 1968.  After his death the league’s Water Street field was dedicated to his memory.

Freddy served as the Warren Alumni and Booster Club’s treasurer for a number of years in the 1950s and 1960s.

Picture from Hall of Fame archives (1965 Little League Awards banquet Warren and Barrington Gazette)