The film 42 will star up-and-coming Chadwick Boseman in the role of Jackie Robinson. Robinson plays himself opposite Ruby Dee in The Jackie Robinson Story, along with the flamboyant Joel Fluellen. (Dee also stars in the World War II-set The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson.) Uniform-jersey number 42 is the only one to be retired throughout all of North American baseball. The only player still wearing it, grandfathered in, is Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees. Teammate Robinson Cano, named after Jackie Robinson, wears number 24 in honor. The practice of inverting Robinson’s number appears to have begun with the great Willie Mays.