Vincent Damphousse: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

I was hoping March would be different from February for many reasons - tremendous back pain and frozen bank accounts being the two main issues that have crippled me. But if it means getting more mail from former captains, I'll endure a bit more pain.

I sent Vincent Damphousse these 5 cards and a fan letter on November 30th, 2010, and received them all back, signed in black sharpie, on March 2nd. He added his jersey number at the tail end of his distinctive signature - 21 for the Edmonton Oilers, 25 for the San Jose Sharks and Montréal Canadiens.

Drafted 6th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Damphousse's single greatest individual moment came when he represented his first team in the 1991 All Star Game, where he tied Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for most goals in a game, with 4.

His greatest team moment, however, would come as a Hab, as part of the team that won the 1993 Stanley Cup. Of course, I had to send cards depicting him in both Canadiens uniforms:

The card on the right - in the red, 'away' jersey - even has the 1992-93 Stanley Cup Finals patch on the jersey; it's from Topps' 1993-94 Stadium Club set (card #240). He had 39 goals and 58 assists - good for 97 points - the year he won the Cup. The card on the left - the white 'home' jersey - is card #110 in the 1995-96 Parkhurst set, one of only two NHL seasons in which the Parkhurst brand emitted its own series since its revival in the early 90s.

He served as team captain from 1996 until 1999; he was a huge star in Montréal: he was a hit with the ladies (at one time even dating one of my mom's friends), and appeared in TV commercials, such as this one for Head & Shoulders:



Before the Habs, Damphousse had a one-season stint with the Edmonton Oilers during which he scored 38 goals and got 89 points in 80 games, as can be seen in these two cards:

The card on the left is from the 1992-93 Topps set (card #55), which used foil on the front, something collectors were more used to from Upper Deck; the card on the right is from the borderless 1991-92 Pro Set Series Two, by Pro Set - card #381 - which featured all the players who had been traded since the release of the first set, and rookies it had missed.

(to be continued in the next post)