At least it does for ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.
In the most recent edition of his Starting 9 column, he ranks the dustup between The Wizard of Oz and Tony the Pony as No. 1 in animus level of an aging superstar getting the cold shoulder in some way from somebody in management, sometimes along with players.
As far as nuclear level, he rates this and Sammy Sosa vs. Cubs both a 10 on the player's part.
That said, Slamming Sammy was tossed away, post-roiding fallout. But, he had never endeared himself to his teammates the way Ozzie did, let alone to the general public.
Ozzie? He had good reason to be PO-ed. Royce Clayton getting moved ahead of him? Throw out that shoulder surgery year in 1995 and look at both 1994 and his swan song of 1996. Sure, it was with abbreviated time both years, but in 1994 he was slightly above his career batting numbers and definitely ahead of them in 1996.
Fielding, his HOF meal ticket? Perhaps not above his average, but still above league averages on range factor and fielding percentage both, both years. A 1.2 dWAR in 1994 and 0.4 in 1996. Total zone runs also solidly positive both years.
Add in that Oz won two MLB service awards near the end of his career, the Branch Rickey in 1994 and the Roberto Clemente in 1995, and to say La Russa handled this poorly is the understatement of the baseball decade.
Of Crasnick's list, I think Frank Thomas vs. Kenny Williams is the only one that can really compare.
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