Yankees slugger Luke Voit subject of new children’s book
BY JASON COHEN
While the start of the baseball
season has been delayed
due to the coronavirus pandemic,
one player is making
an impact off the fi eld this
spring.
New York Yankees fi rst
baseman Luke Voit is the subject
of a recently published
children’s book, “Luke’s Baseball
Story,” and next month
he will be reading it to a few
schools in the borough. Voit
is planning to go to St. Mark
the Evangelist School (55 W
138th Street), P.S. 43 Jonas
Bronck (165 Brown Place),
P.S. 161 Juan Ponce De Leon
School (628 Tinton Avenue)
and P.S. 369 School Based (468
E 140th Street), provided the
schools have been reopened
after the coronavirus closures.
The book allows readers
to follow along as Luke gets
dressed for the game, practices
throwing and catching, gets a
hit, scores a run and demonstrates
good sportsmanship.
All along, Coach Mike tells his
team “baseball players always
have to be ready.”
“I never thought I would
have my own book,” Voit said
to the Bronx Times. “I hope
this book inspires every kid
to pick up a book to read. To
give themselves the opportunity
to grow beyond anything
they could’ve imagined
for themselves. To show them
that anyone in any profession
who possesses elite status:
athlete, musician, chef, inventor,
doctor, lawyer…has to
work hard to get there…and
stay there.”
Voit, 29, grew up in St.
Louis and has always been
an athlete. He played football
and baseball as a youngster
and loved the Cardinals and
Rams. Voit was drafted in the
22nd round of the 2013 Major
League Baseball draft, made
his MLB debut in 2017 with
the Cardinals and was traded
to the Yankees in 2018.
According to Voit, he always
dreamed of playing baseball
or football, but never fathomed
being in the bright lights
of Yankee Stadium.
Voit explained he had never
had a book written about him
before, but with the assistance
of Richard Torrey, who authored
the book, he was quite
impressed with how it turned
out.
Tragedy inspires Bronx comedian
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,38 MARCH 27-APRIL 2, 2020 BTR
“I kind of wanted to share
my story about how I got into
the big leagues,” he said. “Life
is challenging sometimes; it’s
going to throw you a lot of curveballs.”
In the book he stresses that
life isn’t just about baseball,
but if people are dedicated,
work hard and set goals they
can do anything.
Furthermore, a portion
of the book’s sales will be donated
to The Stephen Siller
Tunnel to Towers Foundation,
a non-profi t organization that
provides mortgage-free homes
to surviving spouses of military
and fi rst responders with
young children who made the
ultimate sacrifi ce while serving
our country.
“All I did as a kid was play
sports,” Voit said. “I didn’t
know seasons according to
spring, summer, fall, and winter.
The only seasons I knew
were baseball and football.
But my parents always encouraged
me to have as much
ambition for my education as I
did for wanting to be a professional
athlete.”
Yankees fi rst baseman Luke Voit with his book, “Luke’s Baseball Story.”
Photo Courtesy Luke Voit
BY JASON COHEN
An incident that may have
caused pain and sent many
down a dark path pushed a
Bronx resident into comedy.
Brian Doney, 25, of Kingsbridge,
tragically lost his
mother to a drug overdose
in 2007. Instead of turning to
drugs or depression, her death
fueled him to make people
laugh.
“That was the beginning of
me trying to get into comedy,”
Doney said.
Doney was born in the
Bronx and moved to Columbus,
Ohio at 10 years old. He
explained his mom Barbara
went from being crazy to being
a drinker and drug addict,
and eventually crack
killed her.
At 14, he began writing
sketch comedy bits and a few
years later did his fi rst live
routine in his high school talent
show. He wasn’t nervous
and realized he was a funny
guy.
It took about a decade for
him to incorporate his mom’s
passing into his comedy, but
Doney noted he helped him become
a better comedian.
“I feel like I have power
over it rather than it having
power over me” he said.
Another key factor was the
discovery of his dad Thomas’s
Jerry Seinfeld CD. He was instantly
hooked to Seinfeld’s
observational humor and began
to model himself after the
legend.
He told the Bronx Times
he began to fi gure out why
things are funny. After the
talent show he performed in a
restaurant on New Years and
then more open mics and gigs
throughout Columbus.
“What really led to it is
that deep down there’s always
something we want to talk
about,” he noted. “As long as I
know what I’m talking about
I’m not nervous.”
Doney broke his comedy
chops in Ohio and about a
year or so ago returned to the
Bronx. He works in production
full time and is trying to
bring comedy to the borough.
He is becoming known for
his jokes and was scheduled to
have a show at Yonkers Comedy
club on March 29 and a
spoken word show at the House
of Mark West in Mott Haven
on April 22. He also recently
did an open mic at the Bronx
Brewery and plans on creating
more events for performance
artists in the Bronx.
Additionally, he has recorded
two comedy albums,
“My Mom’s Dead” and
“Wrong” and has a few more
in the works. Some of his biggest
infl uences include Patton
Oswald and Redd Foxx.
“I like to describe my comedy
now as bitter optimism,”
he said.
Doney explained that the
comedy scene is more prevalent
in Brooklyn and Manhattan,
he hopes to change that.
He does open mics every
week and his goal long term is
to be a comic full time and go
on tour.
“I love fi nding new jokes
and being able to fi gure out
how to get people to laugh,”
Doney said.
Comedian Brian Doney. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
I like to describe
my comedy now as
bitter optimism.
Brian Doney