WISCONSIN— It's one thing to meet your childhood hero when you're young, but it's something else to befriend them in person—  especially when that childhood hero is Jackie Robinson.

Ron Rabinovitz's father wrote a letter to Robinson; they then met one day after the then-Brooklyn Dodgers played the then-Boston Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium. It was the beginning of a life-long friendship.

"From that time on, we became the very dearest of friends, and all through my 'growing up years,' he used to write letters to me in long hand and I'd write back to him," Ron Rabinovitz, who grew up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, said. "I must have at least 20 handwritten letters from Jackie."

Friday marked 75 years since Robinson broke the color barrier with the Dodgers at Ebbets Field and Rabinovitz reflected on the impact, both of that day and on Robinson's trailblazing life.

"My dad loved the Dodgers because they gave Jackie an opportunity to play major league baseball," Rabinovitz added.

Hear more from Rabinovitz above.