CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Since the day he debuted as a Philadelphia Phillies right-hander in 1960, Dallas Green has always maintained a tough guy image.

Standing 6-5 and more than 200 pounds, Green became Phillies manager, then general manager of the Chicago Cubs. He's weathered some tough times, but nothing could prepare him for what he would experience Jan. 8 when his 9-year-old granddaughter Christina Taylor Green was one of 19 people shot and six people killed at a Tucson neighborhood meeting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords' constituents.

"That little girl woke an awful lot of people up. We just miss the hell out of her," said Green, speaking publicly for the first time Wednesday at the Phillies spring training headquarters. "I'm supposed to be a tough sucker, but I'm not very tough when it comes to this."

The Phillies went out of their way to make sure Green could keep his sunglasses on. Knowing there might be tears, they moved the press gathering outdoors. But Green, 76, wearing a mock turtleneck, green windbreaker and tasseled loafers maintained his composure for the better part of 20 minutes.

He emphasized that it was his son John (a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers), daughter-in-law Roxanna and grandson, Dallas, who were experiencing the brunt of the tragedy.

He expressed a touch of anger and frustration, not directly at alleged assailant Jared Lee Loughner, but at the system that permits weapons such as the Glock 19 allegedly used in the Tucson shooting to fall into the wrong hands.

"I'm not sure anything (good) can really come of it," Green said. "We just talked about living in the United States and how important it is that it's still the best country in the world to live in.

"You would hope there would be some understanding that there are crazies in this world. I guess the one thing that I can't get through my mind -- even though I'm a hunter and I love to shoot and love to have my guns -- I don't have a Glock or whatever it is and I don't have a magazine with 33 bullets in it. That doesn't make sense to be able to sell those kind of things.

"I guess I never thought about it until this thing happened. What reason is there to have those kind of guns other than to kill people? I just don't understand that."

Green talked at length about his granddaughter.

"Most of what's been written and said about her is obviously very true," he said. "She was really a special young lady, probably older than her years. She and her brother were very close. Christina was kind of the mom as much as Roxanna was to little Dallas -- made sure he got on the bus, made sure he went to the karate classes on time and made sure they buddied together.

"She embodied what's good about kids and what's good about growing up in the United States. Obviously, her interest in politics and going to that function -- being in the wrong place at the wrong time -- hit an awful lot of people hard."

Green said he'll have memories of the family being together for Christmas and Christina playing in the water. He takes solace in having five other grandchildren, including Dallas, who deals with a form of autism. But Christina will always be special.

"John called her 'Princess' and I did, too," he said. "She was our angel. We called her 'Tina' a little bit. Her mother insists on 'Christina Taylor.' She wanted her to grow up a lady and I think John wanted her to grow up a sports gal. There was a constant battle about that. But Christina loved to put the lipstick on and all the paraphernalia that you women wear now."

Green grinned at the suggestion that Christina's stated goal was to become the first female major leaguer. But he was very serious about baseball helping him and his family regain a semi-normal existence.

"Little D is back in action. John took him him to his Little League game the other day. He missed the first ground ball -- hit him right in the face. John said, 'I was proud of him, Dad. He caught the next four and threw them to first (base).'

"(Baseball) has helped me. Obviously, you sink yourself into your work and you don't see a little girl with a hole in her chest as much … I've heard from an awful lot of friends, people I played in the minors with (including) Joe Torre.

"We're still opening notes and letters from the Philadelphia fans and everyone that's wanted to get in touch with us. That's been a little bit of a chore. But, obviously, the Phillies family is very special."