Stadium Collectibles

BOSTON - The global family of the Boston Celtics has called by the thousands about bricks and seats from the Boston Garden. The St. Peter's basilica of basketball arenas sits vacant nine inches from the new FleetCenter, where Bruins and Celtics faithful still come to pray. Fans have called from Britain, Germany and other points of Europe, as well as various parts of the U.S., of course, for a piece of the Garden. Nobody has dibs on anything. Not Red Auerbach. Not Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek or Larry Bird. Not even Bobby Orr. Not stockholders, nor season ticket holders. Well, one promise will be kept. Former Bruins defenseman Terry Reilly has been promised the penalty box. FleetCenter's Jo O'Connor said it's uncertain how items will be sold to the public - sale or an auction. In the memorabilia world, however, an auction certainly would guarantee a secondary market as someone or a group of individuals would drop big wads of cash for items, then hike prices like Russell outreaching Chamberlain for a rebound. The FleetCenter has set up a hotline of sorts for bricks and seats from the Garden, but fans will get a recorded message and instructions. "Before we set up the phone line, we received requests from people who wanted everything from seats and bricks to a urinal," O'Connor said.