Laurel Resident Was a Prolific Stadium Model Maker
Last year, while The Laurel History Boys were doing research for our book on the history of the Capital Centre, we were given a tour of the holdings in storage at Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland. On the way out, I stopped to admire an intricate, scale model of Cole Field House. It was an amazing model, with a portion of the roof cut away to see inside, which was even more detailed than the outside. Someone did a considerable amount of work to get exactly the right number of rows and seats surrounding the fabled basketball court. It was perfect in every way.
When I saw the attached small plaque with the model’s information, I did a double-take:
This scratch model of Cole Field House was constructed exclusively for the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in scale of 1 inch equals 30 feet by Bruce A. Genther of Laurel, Maryland in 2004.
Who is Bruce Genther? We’d never heard of him. The discovery of the Cole Field House model started a months-long search. What I found was an extraordinary craftsman, sports designer, and serious collector of Baltimore sports memorabilia. I also found out, unfortunately, that Genther had passed away in 2021, at the age of 71.
Uniform and Logo Designs
Genther designed and recreated sports uniforms and team logos:
Before it discontinued varsity sports in 1983, the University of Baltimore used his logo design on uniforms.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Genther is “responsible for the Orioles’ experiment with an all-orange uniform in the early 1970s.”
In 1994, Orioles owner Peter Angelos and a few other billionaires were competing to buy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and move them to Baltimore to replace the Colts. The Sun optimistically sponsored a name-the-team contest in anticipation of the Buccaneers relocating and being re-named. Besides submitting the name “Baltimore Clippers” for the team, Genther took the additional step of designing a helmet logo. “The stylized ship logo comes from a design previously used by the city to promote the Inner Harbor,” Genther told the Sun.
Over the years, he submitted uniform designs for consideration for the Washington Redskins when the team was considering changing its name, and the USA Baseball team, also known as Team USA, which plays in international competition.
He also had a complete collection of every Orioles uniform worn by the team between 1954 and 2004. Some of the uniforms he recreated from photographs.
Stadium/Arena Models
His Cole Field House model was originally built for an exhibit at the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum, which is located just a couple of blocks from Camden Yards. In an interview with Mike Gibbons, the Director Emeritus & Historian of the museum, he told me that Genther was closely involved with the Babe Ruth Museum, serving on their Board of Directors and assisting with numerous exhibits.
After Gibbons gave me a tour of the museum, we gingerly navigated the very narrow, circular staircase in the house where Ruth was born in 1895 down to the basement. Gibbons showed me three other models constructed by Genther that he donated to the museum. Besides being more examples of extraordinary, accurate craftsmanship, the models were a history lesson.
The first model was Baltimore Municipal Stadium, built in 1922 for football, which stood on the same 33rd Street location before Memorial Stadium was built. All Baltimore fans remember that Memorial Stadium was horseshoe-shaped, with the open end facing away from 33rd Street. But the precursor, the Baltimore Municipal Stadium, was the opposite. Also horseshoe-shaped, the original stadium’s open end faced 33rd Street. An interesting historical detail gleaned from Genther’s model is that minor league baseball teams played there. That meant a very short left field fence. (The major league Orioles didn’t begin play in Baltimore until 1954.) Up until 1944, the Baltimore Orioles of the International League played at Oriole Park, located at Greenmount Avenue and 29th Street. But that stadium burned down in 1944 and the minor-league Orioles moved into Baltimore Municipal Stadium.
The second model Gibbons showed me was Memorial Stadium. Genther’s plaque on this model read:
This model of Memorial Stadium was hand crafted using over 1,500 individually shaped and glued pieces. The stadium model was constructed using balsa wood and mat board and required over a year to complete. All pieces were then hand painted to reflect the wonderful character of the home of the Baltimore Orioles. The scale of the model is 1 inch = 45 feet.
He even faithfully recreated the 33rd Street façade with its lettered message.
The final model was of Bugle Field, providing another history lesson. Bugle Field opened in 1910. The two primary teams to play there were from the Negro Leagues, the Baltimore Black Sox and the Baltimore Elite Giants. Bugle Field was located just across the city line on Edison Highway. In 1949 the stadium was torn down.
Genther also constructed models of other stadiums:
His Yankee Stadium model was donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986, where it sits in storage. Representatives from the Hall of Fame told me there are no plans to exhibit it.
The Boston Sports Institute
Camden Yards
Frank Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Maryland
A popular postcard sold in Baltimore gift shops in the 1990s was a photo taken by Genther of Camden Yards under construction. He took the photo from high above in one of the high rises beyond centerfield.
Personal Life
Although I was able to find these remarkable examples of his work, I didn’t find much about Genther’s personal life. What I really wanted to find out was how and where he learned to make these amazingly precise and accurate models.
Genther lived in Laurel from 1986 until his death in 2021. He was a “senior marketing associate at Legg Mason in Baltimore,” according to the Sun. Gibbons, who knew him fairly well through his work with the Babe Ruth Museum, said “The museum was important to him.” Gibbons described Genther as “a huge sports fan and local sports historian.”
A photo of Genther from the Sun in 1993 showed him and a friend, Darby Waters, in Orioles jerseys at the BaseBall Gala held at Camden Yards. Waters, now Darby Moyer, was able to shed some light on Genther. They attended Towson High School and Towson University together. She remembered Genther as having a high interest in art—painting, building, and graphic design.
He was also a sports fanatic. During high school he started working at the Brooks Robinson Sporting Goods store and stayed for almost a decade. In Doug Wilson’s biography, Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, Genther is quoted as saying, “Brooks Robinson was the greatest gentleman I’ve ever met. ... He was very down-to-earth. He understood who he was and would go out of his way to be nice. But he had no concept of the aura that surrounded him.” Genther also, for a time, sold concessions at Camden Yards.
So, it’s no surprise that his two passions were art and sports. He managed to combine them—quite successfully—in his various pursuits.
Kevin Leonard is a founding member of the Laurel History Boys and a two-time winner of the Maryland Delaware District of Columbia Press Association Journalism Award.