2 baseball stars put on a clinic in salvaging an interview

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez sat down to talk about their pet causes on BTIG Charity Day. When the interviewer veered off topic, the tandem righted the ship—with lessons in media savvy.

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How you respond makes all the difference.

When CNBC’s Bob Pisani sat with baseball greats Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter during the BTIG Charity Day, something magical unfolded for those of us in public relations—a case study for media trainers to show clients exactly how to handle an uncomfortable interview.

A-Rod and Jeter clearly expected to discuss their charities but instead were subjected to a barrage of unrelated questions for nearly five minutes. Awkward queries about the two future Hall of Famers’ notoriously rocky friendship, pop star Jennifer Lopez and events other than the BTIG Charity Day were compounded by Pisani’s mixing up A-Rod’s and Jeter’s names.

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