By Ben Brown ’14

Photo courtesy of neighborhoodhalfwits.wordpress.com

The intensity of the Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry is felt within the New York Yankees organization. Yankees Director of Program Development for Non-Baseball Events Mark Holztman ‘80 and Finn Wentworth, a Lehigh University alumnus and co-founder of the YES Network, are familiar with the rivalry and were instrumental in setting up the 150th game at Yankee Stadium.

“I just thought this would potentially be something compelling,”Holtzman said. “We had heard that [Lafayette and Lehigh] were interested through Finn in doing something very special for this game.”

In the planning stages of the game, Holtzman received positive responses about holding the game at Yankee Stadium.

“I live in New Jersey, so there are a tremendous amount of Lafayette and Lehigh alums. And like everyone I mentioned the idea to said, ‘Jesus, I haven’t been to a game in several years. This one I would go to.’ All these people thought it was an incredible idea, like, could it really happen?”

Lafayette’s President Daniel H. Weiss was intrigued by the cultural opportunities New York City presents.

“Our thought was a weekend in New York that had other activities too: cultural, intellectual activities, maybe shared events with Lehigh, highlighting some of our other accomplishments and other aspects of our institutions,” Weiss said.

The 150th game will mark the first time the rivalry has been played at a neutral site since 1884, when Lafayette and Lehigh faced off in West Side Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The approximate capacity of the stadium for the game will be 36,000, much more than Fisher Stadium’s 13,132.

Lafayette forfeited home-field advantage by agreeing to have the game in the Bronx. The next Lafayette-Lehigh game in Easton, Pa. will take place in 2016.