By The Cleveland Indians won GreenSportsBlog’s “Best Team On-Field/Greenest Team Off-Field” (BTO/GTO) award for 2016. They took the Cubs to extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series while continuing their green leadership among Major League Baseball clubs. Jerry Crabb, the club’s Senior Director Ballpark Operations, commented on the Indians’ winning this very difficult sports-green “double.”
The Cleveland Indians are GreenSportsBlog’s “Best Team On-Field/Greenest Team Off-Field” of 2016, announced Tuesday as part of GSB’s annual year-end “Best and Worst of Green-Sports” column. The award is a reflection of the club’s devotion its four Guiding Commitments: To Baseball, Fans, Ballpark and Community.
On the field, the Indians were an up-and-coming squad, winning its first American League Central title since 2007. After upsetting the Boston Red Sox (YES!*) and Toronto Blue Jays in the American League playoffs, Cleveland came within an eyelash of knocking off the heavily favored Chicago Cubs in the World Series, finally falling in extra innings in the “Instant Classic” Game 7.
The club’s greenness goes back at least to that division-winning season of 2007. Since then, Cleveland and Progressive Field have consistently been among Major League Baseball’s green leaders; installing a highly visible solar panel system on site, initiating the composting of organic waste, and adding on-site wind energy to the mix—among other environmentally-friendly measures.
Senior Director of Ballpark Operations Jerry Crabb accepted the award on the American League Champs’ behalf by saying, “The Cleveland Indians organization is honored to receive the Best Team On and Greenest Team Off Field recognition this year. While we came up just shy of achieving one of our Guiding Commitments to win the World Series, we also take a lot of pride in our green energy efforts which support our other organizational commitments to our Fans, Progressive Field and Community. Thus, it’s exciting for us to receive an award like this acknowledging all facets of our business.”
Jerry Crabb, the Cleveland Indians’ Senior Director Ballpark Operations (Photo credit: Dan Mendlik/Cleveland Indians)
* Since GreenSportsBlog is run by a Yankees fan, we are happy that the Indians beat the Red Sox for two reasons: 1. They beat the Red Sox, and 2. That means GSB did not have to consider giving the BTO/GTO award to them as they too have a strong sustainability record.
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