On April 15 every year, players from the American and National leagues — all wearing No. 42 — line up on the baselines as a tribute to one of the greatest players of all time, Jack Roosevelt Robinson. It didn’t happen this year because baseball has been sidelined with all the other sports.
But Jackie was not forgotten, especially in the heart and mind of Ron Rabinovitz, of St. Louis Park, Minn., who has spent his life honoring the legacy of the player who broke Major League Baseball’s color line on April 15, 1947.
Young Ronnie of Sheboygan, Wis., became the unlikely pen pal and then friend of the Brooklyn Dodgers infielder in the 1950s. In later years, Rabinovitz has spoken to classes across the Twin Cities and at Target Field, where schoolchildren take tours of the Twins’ home field. He was featured in an MLB documentary about No. 42, and the Minnesota History Theatre produced a play about the Wisconsin boy and his baseball hero.
Now, Rabinovitz has co-written a children’s book, “Always Jackie,” just the way Robinson signed his letters to Ronnie. “I put down notes about my life and my history with Jackie with the intention of writing a children’s book,” the 74-year-old retired salesman said. “I don’t want anyone to ever forget him.”