Rodriguez & Rivera Go to Bat for “Bully”

The Major League Baseball season may have just gotten underway last week… But that hasn’t stopped New York Yankees stars Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera from showing their support for the documentary Bully.

Alex Rodriguez & Mariano Rivera

Rodriguez and Rivera joined fellow players Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson, as well as the team’s manager Joe Girardi, for a special public service announcement to urge the audience to sign on to a website for the film and its Bully Project petition.

Directed by filmmaker Lee Hirsch, Bully follows several middle school students from around the country during one school year and documents bullying and the middle school environment. In one scene, shot in Sioux City, Iowa, middle school student Alex Libby is taunted by classmates on the school bus; another shows an LGBT teen in Oklahoma who faces bullying over her decision to come out. The film also follows the family of Georgia teen Tyler Long in the year following his suicide after he was bullied in middle school.

The film provoked controversy when the MPAA originally gave the movie an R rating, citing the language used in the film. That decision was later overturned after a national letter-writing campaign.

Rodriguez, Rivera and their Yankees teammates join a growing list of celebrities who have spoken out against bullying, including Victoria Justice and Wilmer Valderrama.

Bully opens in theaters around the country on Friday.

Posada Ending His Baseball Career?

Jorge Posada may just have caught his last baseball at Yankee Stadium

The 40-year-old professional baseball star is reportedly planning to retire after 17 seasons with the New York Yankees rather than pursue opportunities with other teams.

Jorge Posada

A person familiar with Posada’s decision told The Associated Press on Saturday that the five-time All-Star catcher will announce his retirement this month. The free agent instructed his sports agents not to make calls on his behalf this offseason, according to a source.

Posada won five World Series titles with the team that picked him up in the 24th round of the 1990 draft. He became a free agent after a trying season in New York, the final year of a four-year, $52 million contract.

Posada’s retirement leaves shortstop Derek Jeter and closer Mariano Rivera as the two remaining players from the core group that led the Yankees to four World Series championships from 1996-2000 and one more in ’09. Andy Pettitte retired after the 2010 season.

Only Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra have caught more games in pinstripes than Posada (1,574).

He likely will receive strong Hall of Fame consideration after finishing with a career batting average of .273 and producing 275 home runs and 1,065 RBIs in 1,829 games.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.