Kevin Riordan: Fan first to get Phillies sod with Series roots

Lifelong Phillies fan Charlie Heald opens a flat cardboard box and pulls out two little lengths of lush Kentucky bluegrass.

The 47-year-old Mount Ephraim resident is beaming so brightly, he gleams. Like a little boy on Christmas, which, in a way, this day is.

"It's perfect," Heald says, unrolling the pieces of vivid green Citizens Bank Park sod within a brick-bordered place of honor he's dug into his lawn.

"Perfect."

His isn't any old grass, or even any old Citizens Bank Park grass, but the turf upon which the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.

"I can see them," Heald says. "I can see the winning run. I can see the guys jumping up and down. I don't know if they actually jumped on this grass, but this grass was there. And now it's in my yard. Now it's in my yard. A piece of 2008 World Series grass is in my yard."

What he calls "the culmination of my entire Phillies collecting career" - the memorabilia in Heald's amazing basement includes seats from Connie Mack and the Vet - is now available through a company called Stadium Associates.

A 2-by-2-foot piece of Phillies Sod like the one Heald bought goes for about $200, including shipping, and a 1-by-2-foot section is about half that. Heald's package arrived Wednesday; he's the first fan to take delivery.

Brent Henry, a Stadium Associates consultant, does the honors. His boss, David L. Andres, also is on hand.

"Last November, we took about a third of the field, and we transplanted it immediately, that very same day, to our sod farm," says Andres, president and chief executive officer. The Cranbury, N.J., company ("Your Team . . . Their Turf . . . Your Collectible") has been authorized to sell the retired Citizens Bank Park grass.

Before delivery, Andres and I chatted at the sod farm, the location of which I agreed to keep secret. Phillies fans are so devoted, he said, that the place could be overrun if word got out.

Not that there's much chance of trampling this resilient grass to death. Trust me, sitting on the transplant field in the secret location is like sitting on a luxe mattress. And the grass smells wonderful.

"We are enabling fans to own a living piece of history," said Andres, who certainly knows how to promote the stuff of which hot Saturday afternoons of lawn mowing are made. "The purpose of our company is to connect sports fans to their teams through grass."

Stadium Associates neither installs nor guarantees the Phillies Sod. But "authenticators" from Major League Baseball, which pays close attention to such matters, have monitored the entire removal/transplant/cutting process and provide a certificate of authenticity for each patch.

"We're looking to make fans happy," Andres said.

Heald certainly is, even though his wife, Carol, "thinks I'm nuts."

A Northeast Philadelphia native, he was 6 when his father took him to his first Phillies game at Connie Mack Stadium. He's been collecting memorabilia since he was 12 and plans to keep a close eye on his latest acquisition.

"I want to make sure the birds aren't on it, or a rabbit isn't chewing on it," says Heald, a longtime season-ticket holder. "Maybe closed-circuit TV so I can watch it when I'm at work."

He's joking, caught up in the joy of the moment.

"This is unbelievable," he says. "Un-be-lievable."

Having spent perhaps $15,000 during a lifetime of collecting, Heald's in a good position to judge the value of his Phillies Sod.

"You can't really put a price on it," he says.