"Phil the Can" is a robot that teaches Phillies fans about the benefits of recycling.

Full disclosure: The author is an admitted Phillies fanatic. Also, the Yankees are going to lose.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The Philadelphia Phillies are one of the oldest teams in baseball history, but in some aspects—particularly in environmental initiatives—the team's also one of the most progressive. And this year, the reigning champs would like nothing more than to recycle their World Series Championship title, keeping it in the City of Brotherly Love. They'll get their chance starting Wednesday when they face the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven series. If they pull it off, they'll be the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the Cincinnati Reds did it in the 1975–76 season. I'm just sayin'.

THE DETAILS: The Phillies received a lot of press in 2007 when they became the first professional sports franchise to lose 10,000 games. That ill-fated landmark received far more press than a much more meaningful milestone event in 2008, when the Phils purchased 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Energy Certificates—enough to offset the team's entire year of power utility use. It was an unprecedented move in the world of professional sports, and carried the environmental weight of planting 100,000 trees. The team went on to win the World Series that year. Karma? We'd like to think so. The Phillies also purchased renewable energy to offset 100 percent of its electricity use for 2009, too. Look out, Yanks!

"The Phillies have the most substantial offset program of any of the teams," says senior scientist Allen Hershkowitz, leader of National Resource Defense Council's (NRDC) sustainability and sports initiative, which has partnered with Major League Baseball. While the Phillies are certainly pioneers in efforts to green the game, the team is part of a larger effort spearheaded by Major League Baseball and NRDC to bring greening initiatives of varying levels to all Major League baseball teams. The idea is not only to help the environment, but to set an example. "As one of the most cultural, influential organizations in the U.S., having Major League Baseball embrace environmentalism is a meaningful cultural shift," says Hershkowitz. "When you have the Phillies, Yankees, and commissioner of baseball saying global warming matters to us, and that it's not good for baseball, it sends a message to the marketplace and legislators that we need to stop arguing about politics and start figuring out how to make the business case work for reducing global warming emissions," he adds.

NRDC is helping to guide MLB teams toward more sustainable operations, and ones that will save teams money, too. Many teams have already invested in energy-sipping LED stadium lights and TV screens, started grand-scale recycling programs, installed water-conserving faucets in bathrooms, initiated double-sided printing in front-office operations, and started using recycled paper in media guides, game programs, and tickets. "Literally, there's been hundreds of thousands dollars in savings throughout the league," says Hershkowitz. "There are ways we can save money and the environment at the same time."

Green initiatives at the stadium vary from team to team, but Hershkowitz noted that teams that aren't headed to the World Series, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox stand alongside the Phillies as progressive baseball teams leading environmental initiatives, and all MLB teams are engaged on some level.