New Phils collectible: World Series sod

Fans look at the Citizens Bank Park field and see grass.

David Andres of Stadium Associates has helped the club see another kind of green.

Money green.

Teams sell game-used balls, bats and jerseys. Why not game-used sod?

Want a piece of the actual logo painted on the grass behind home plate for last season's playoffs? How about a piece of infield where Brad Lidge famously knelt after the Phillies won the World Series in 2008?

Today, the Phillies started selling freeze-dried specimens - three inches square - preserved in "a beautiful UV-glass case," complete with field photo and "tamper-proof, hologram sticker from MLB's Authentication Program," according to the team. A first-of-its-kind memento for major-league baseball, it's now available at the park's Majestic Clubhouse Store for $79.99 (infield and outfield) or $119.99 (logo).

But that's only the beginning.

Fans will also be able to buy and grow two kinds of living "Phillies sod" - squares lifted from the field or fresh sod grown using "the Phillies blend," Andres said.

These opportunities became available because of timing as perfect as a Ryan Howard moon shot.

The Phillies planned to replace the park's original sod this season, and Stadium Associates was ready, having sprouted out of a New Jersey- and New York-based sod business in 2008.

Growing grass for Yankee Stadium seemed like enough of an opportunity for DeLea Sod Farms until Andres, a consultant, said to an owner, "Rick, we gotta trademark this. This is Yankee sod!"

That lead to the creation of Cranbury, N.J.-based Stadium Associates, licensing approval from Major League Baseball, and the sale of 3-1/2 acres of Yankees sod at Home Depots in the New York City area last year, Andres said.

"We're a new collectible company trying to connect teams to their fans through grass," Andres explained.

The first big memorabilia gig, though, was this year's Super Bowl. Freeze-dried chunks of the end zones and 50-yard-line, as well as plantable squares of live sod - all trodden by the likes of New Orleans' Drew Brees and Indianapolis' Peyton Manning - are available through www.stadiumassociates.com/products.

After the baseball season, 40,000 to 50,000 square feet of grass was "harvested" from Citizen Bank Park and "relaid on a sod farm in an undisclosed location," Andres said. When it's thriving this spring, probably by mid-May, fans can expect to pay $114.99 for a one-square-foot piece or $239.99 for a 2-foot-by-2-foot patch - plus shipping and handling.

Never-used sod that matches the Phillies mix will also be available. "That price point has not been finalized," he said.

Andres is certainly enthusiastic about his turf.

"The interesting thing about grass is, you don't have to ask people for permission to like it," he said. "Everyone likes grass."