You may have seen a few posts back the exclusive interview with Kelvin Torve, whose "accidental" issue of the 24 jersey in 1990 caused a minor stir among Met fans and a major event in team history when viewed through the numeric prism. Photographic evidence of the event was difficult to come by, to say the least -- even a thorough re-examination of Mets Inside Pitch issues from 1990 produced nothing.

That was before MBTN user TommieCleon (aka Paul C) stepped up to the plate, and just like Kelvin Torve on Aug. 9, 1990, smashed one off the wall. Pictured here are videocaps from that historic occassion -- not only one of the few games Torve spent wearing No. 24, and not only his best moment -- his pinch double drove in 2 runs including the game-winner and made him a hero -- but for the lengthy, violent, bench-clearing brawl that occurred only an inning before.

The brawl was precipitated when Phillies pitcher Pat Combs returned fire to Dwight Gooden, then hitting. Gooden earlier in the game had hit Phillies Dickie Thon and Tommy Herr with pitches. Tension between the Mets and Phillies had dated to a year before when Darryl Strawberry and Darren Daulton tangled.

As part of the preparation for the new launch of mbtn.net and the release of the Mets by the Numbers book, I went and gathered some dynamite celebrity interviews with folks with opinions on the Mets, Mets history and/or Mets uniforms that we will be running periodically.

Jacqueline Miranne may not be a household name (yet!) but you may recognize her face. The 21-year-old fashion model and aspiring television personaility has been appearing on your TV every Wednesday as a model on Bravo TV’s fabulous fashion competiton, Project Runway.

In an almost unimaginable flash of decisiveness and creativity, the Mets have apparently whacked hitting coach Rick Down and will begin the second half with Rickey Henderson as their hitting coach.

I know! It’s not like the Mets to go with relatively inexperienced braintrust, as evidenced by the piles of potential managerial material with Met bloodlines seeking their big-league opportunities elsewhere (Ron Gardenhire, John Gibbons, John Stearns, Wally Backman, etc.). And it’s not like they offer opportunities to those who leave them on bad terms very freely, as we noticed when Darryl Strawberry finally made it back to town last year. And it’s not like they go around firing guys, though Down ought to absorb at leastr some blame for an offense that has only been good in stretches since last August.

But Rickey is Rickey, nothing if not unique. He got the Mets to break No. 24 out of a limbo that, Kelvin Torve notwithstanding, dated back to Mays’ retirement in 1973. For the Mets in 1999, Henderson had what would be the last great year of his great career.

We’ll be watching to see whether they break 24 out of mothballs again for Rickey, or dress him in a coachy number like Down’s departed 54. Bet its the former.

Welcome back Rickey!

Hojo Returns, Bannister Traded (Dec. 9): For the second winter in a row, the Mets traded a soft-tossing starter who wore No. 40 for a hard-throwing young reliever who wears No. 50. While last year it was Jae Seo to Los Angeles for Duaner Sanchez, this time it's Brian Bannister  to Kansas City in exchange for Ambiorix Burgos. (Yes, we know Seo's turn in No. 40 was a few changes ago, but we couldn't resist all the spooky parallels). We'll wish good luck to Bannister, who showed a lot of heart in an unexpected rookie campaign with the Mets, and hope that Burgos can cut down on those home runs allowed and wild pitches.

The Winter Meetings also brought word that ex-Met Howard Johnson would serve as the first-base coach next season, with Sandy Alomar crossing the diamond to third base to take the place of the departed Manny Acta. We'll be watching to see which jersey Hojo turns up in, noting that his former No. 20 belongs today to outfielder Shawn Green.