Victim has Strong Baseball Connections

Most people know the name of Christina Green as the name of the nine-year-old girl who was killed recently in the Tucson tragedy.  It seems that there has been ripple effect after ripple effect caused by this little girl's tragic death.

And another one has developed:  She is the granddaughter of Dallas Green.  Green spent eight seasons in the bigs as a pitcher primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies, though he also pitched with the Washington Senators and New York Mets.  He is perhaps more remembered for his life after playing baseball. 

After his playing days ended Green became a manager, winning a World Series with the Phillies in 1980. 

He then became the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs and was responsible for acquiring future Hall of Famer and Cubs icon Ryne Sandberg in a trade when Sandberg was still in the Minor Leagues.  He won the Executive of the Year Award in 1984.  He was fired by the Cubs in 1987.

He returned to baseball briefly in 1989, managing the New York Yankees for a portion of the season and leading them to a losing record.

He came the manager of the Mets in 1993 and was fired in August of 1996.  The Mets had a losing record in every year that Green managed the team. 

Green currently has a figurehead position with the Phillies, acting as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager.  Green has called the death of Christina "the worst thing" that has ever happened to him. 

And the connections run deeper than that.  Dallas' son and Christina's father, John, was also a baseball player, starring with the University of Arizona.  And his greatest accomplishments, too, have come after his playing days ended.  He has worked for 20 years as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

So it was no surprise to see many faces from the baseball world mourning at Christina's funeral.  Among them were Boston Red Sox OF Darnell McDonald, who John drafted several years ago, Oakland Athletics scouting and player executive Billy Owens, who played with John in college, and well over 50 fellow scouts.

It seems that the Tucson Tragedy has affected us all in some way.