Cost of page from DiMaggio diary, $2,500; memories for LV man, priceless

Finding the perfect Hanukkah gift this year for Las Vegan Marc Vogel was a fluke.

It started with the Neiman Marcus catalog. One featured gift was a page from baseball great Joe DiMaggio's diary, which he started keeping in 1980 at his accountant's suggestion. The page Neiman Marcus chose to feature from about 15 years of diaries was scribbled on Riviera stationery and dated April 1, 1981.

"Arrived in Las Vegas at 11:20 a.m. -- picked up luggage -- which was damaged. Western Air Lines will take care of it. Checked in at Riviera hotel and met with Harry Vogel and talked about our meeting tomorrow and keeping me up on what's happening. Had lunch at LVCC and took steam bath. Back to hotel at 5 p.m. Took a rest and got dressed for dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Vogel at coffee (shop) at 7:30 p.m."

DiMaggio also noted he had given the porter a $2 tip, the bell boys got $4, and he spent $14 on taxis and tipped $6 on food. His total expenses that day: $26.

A handful of friends of the Vogel family, apparently careful readers of the Neiman catalog, began calling various Vogels to make sure they had seen the mention of Marc's parents, Harry and Miriam Vogel.

Marc's wife and mother tried to buy that page for him for Hanukkah. But it already had been sold.

Then his wife, Sugar, discovered there were 12 other pages mentioning the Vogels, New Yorkers who became Las Vegans in 1971 and started a food supply business called Casino Foods.

They bought the April 2, 1981, page, also written on Riviera stationery, because it mentioned Harry Vogel and his brother Allen Vogel.

"Up at 8AM. Took a walk and met Allen at The Sands Hotel. We had breakfast and I talked to him about my pension plan which is now in progress. Back to hotel at 11 AM and met my friend Harry Vogel who is here for press conference and signing of contract for "Hall of Fame" Golf Tournament at 12 noon. Went to Restaurant Italiane, where Press Conference and lunch being served to the media. Iz Becker made presentation and Jim Brown and I were introduced and answered several questions. We also did radio & TV appearances. Through at 1:30 and made several calls to Hall of Famers to invite them to tournament. Took steam bath at LVCC and had dinner there."

His expenses that day: $30.

The price of that impressively framed page with a photo of DiMaggio: $2,500.

The diary referred to a Las Vegas sporting event DiMaggio and football great Jim Brown co-sponsored: the 1981 Riviera Hall of Fame Golf Classic featuring more than 40 athletes who were hall of fame members in their respective sports. The Las Vegas Review-Journal said the event "could very well be the greatest gathering of sports celebrities of the modern era in one place at one time."

DiMaggio met Harry and Marc Vogel in the 1970s, and the men struck up a friendship that was particularly tight in the 1980s. They were all regulars at the Las Vegas Country Club referenced in the diary as LVCC, Sugar recalled.

She said most people don't know that Harry Vogel negotiated DiMaggio's contract in 1974 to represent Mr. Coffee. The coffee maker included a $5 rebate check bearing DiMaggio's signature. Mr. Coffee made even more money because, instead of cashing it, people saved it as a memento.

In 1980, when Marc was 30, he was golfing with his dad and DiMaggio when suddenly he couldn't see out of his right eye. DiMaggio arranged for Marc to see an expert at Stanford University, and Marc was diagnosed with a brain disorder called hydrocephalus. During a two-year period when Marc was being treated in San Francisco, DiMaggio visited him regularly.

A diary written for tax purposes is not just a collector's item for Marc Vogel, who has had 24 brain surgeries. It's a reminder of his dad, who died last year at 84, and of Joe DiMaggio, who died in 1999, also at 84.

It's a personal reminder of a Las Vegas family's friendship with a national hero, back in the days when sports heroes didn't spend so much time in court or behind bars.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.