Fenway model a mini masterpiece of love
By Chris Fusco
Staff Reporter

Steve Wolf's passion for making ridiculously realistic models of ballparks once cost him a job. It has probably kept him from finding a serious girlfriend, too. But, as his favorite ballclub, the Chicago White Sox, opens its home schedule today, Wolf finds himself in about the same position as Frank Thomas and his sox teammates---on the verge of a breakthrough year . . . if the pitching works out.

Wolf, 48, has turned his hobby into a bona fide business called Major League Models. He's looking for a deep-pocketed buyer for what he considers to be his masterpiece: an almost finished miniature Fenway Park, built using the stadium's original blueprints. The Fenway at Wolf's Buffalo Grove carriage house includes hand-airbrushed pewter seats, a working Green Monster scoreboard and seven miniature light standards with a total of 650 bulbs. It all sits on a base that's 5.5 feet by 6 feet.

Wolf wants at least $90,000 for the model---a figure he justifies by noting what he says architectural firms or Hollywood special effects companies would charge for comparable work. Two of his other projects---a Wrigley Field model bought by Murphy's Bleachers and an 1888 Polo Grounds replica commissioned by a private collector---each sold for more than $20,000, Wolf said. But the Fenway model is far more detailed. "The only thing that's missing is plumbing---and 33,420 Boston Red Sox fans,"he said.

Besides the intricate version of Fenway, Wolf is working on three other models for collectors---smaller versions of Wrigley, Fenway and Yankee Stadium that he has sold for a total of more than $15,000. In addition, Major League Models is working with a Hartford, Conn. businessman on a possible model ballpark museum that could sprout next to a minor-league stadium in that city. The museum, which has yet to obtain financial backing, would contain 8-by-8 foot replicas of the original 15 major league ballparks built between 1920 and 1925. "It's one thing to maybe research some ballparks through photographs, but there's not one really concise source" about them, said Greg Martin, the Hartford marketing executive who approached Wolf and his partner, John Pasternack, about the idea. "The models are spectacular, and they're certainly unique." Even if museum plans don't work out, Wolf said he thinks a big market exists for his work with collectors, especially former Major Leaguers. Still, he said, "it's a struggle getting to the right people."

His first ballpark model---the outfield wall, seats and scoreboard from old Comiskey Park---still occupies a good chunk of his garage. He built it after attending the last game there, in 1990. From there, the print shop worker and graphic artist moved on to Wrigley Field and other ballparks, losing a job in the mid 1990s because a boss thought he was devoting too much time to his hobby. He jumped full time into the modeling business more than three years ago, as collectors started calling and commissioning projects.

More than a year in the making, Wolf said he hopes the Fenway project will thrust him into the spotlight. Meantime, he seems to be having better luck with women, saying he has found a girlfriend who understands his seemingly geeky obsession with painting tiny seats and assembling foul poles. It's an obsession she'd better stay used to.

"I just think the ballpark is a beautiful thing," Wolf said. "We want to bring back the most overlooked part of American architectural history."