Ditty Drainville starred in baseball and softball for more than thirty years, but perhaps his greatest accomplishments involved his service to Little League Baseball.

Having watched from the bench as Warren High School captured the 1936 Class C Baseball Championship, Ditty captained the 1939 Warren High nine that won both the Class C and State Baseball Championships.  As the team’s shortstop, he hit .320 in the regular season.

Ditty competed in the Warren versus Bristol Baseball Little World Series seven times between 1938 and the Series’ final year of 1949.  His best year was probably 1940, when his “outstanding performance” included a batting average of .308.

In 1941 he hit .357 as the Crown Zippers nabbed the Rhode Island Baseball League regular season title.

Returning home from military service in 1946, Ditty was a member of the Warren Townies baseball squad, the Kettlety’s Firestones team that he pitched to the Warren Fast-Pitch Softball League playoff crown, and the Warren Twilight Baseball League’s Central and Massasoits nine that won the league championship.  This latter team’s only loss came despite a triple play that he initiated.  He was the league’s All Star shortstop in 1948 and 1949, hitting .375 and .400, respectively.

When Little League Baseball came to Warren in 1952, Ditty took over as manager of the Ellis/Asselin Yankees and led them to the league title.  Although he managed or coached the Yankees for more than fifteen more years, he sadly never reached the winner’s circle again.  Ditty served as either the league’s secretary or president during three decades.

His playing days ended at the age of forty-eight when he played third base and “led” the Kleistone Rubber slow-pitch softball team to a victoryless season and a near upset of the league champions in the playoffs.

Picture from Hall of Fame archives (1939 Baseball State Championship team)