It was not just the all star program

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For A Better Legion

Most of what happens and what doesn't happen is just hidden from view. Meetings are private. Meeting minutes are not published. Decisions are often made but not announced. When people describe the Legion baseball operation as being a private club or a secret society, they are pretty close to the truth.

We don't think secrecy is helpful to Legion baseball or the board.  Meeting minutes that we have published show:

• That the nuts and bolts of the operation get handled quite well including: rules considerations, substate locations, and state tournament locations.
• One sees many diligent board members offering thoughts, different views, and lending a voice of experience.  
• Viewpoints of different people would be seen. One may appreciate a viuewpoint. One might read disagreeable statemnents.
• People would get an appreciation of what the Legion board actually does. And what it doesn't do.
• And maybe board members would have some visible accountability.

Issue: The Old Time Religion - Buying Hotel Rooms For Kids

Background:

• Minnesota is the only state that required tournament hosts to buy hotel rooms for individual players and coaches at state tournaments.
• Most have little or no travel or hotel reimbursements with any money paid goes to teams not player.
• At least one, Wisconsin, offer a partial reimbursement for hotel expense to requesting teams, a policy determined by a vote of coaches not the board of directors.

From Zero to Fifty Grand

• The 2024 state budget for state tournament players and coaches: $00.00 - Zero
• The total state budget for preceeding years (that anyone can remember) - Zero.
• The 2025 total Minnesota Legion Baseball Board budget liability to buy players and coaches hotel rooms: $50,000

Why?  Issues of hotel costs have been before leadership and the bnoard for years. They had no startegic plan or contingency options. Smart leadership?

• First a Stalemate - The Junior D1 host said they would not pay for hotels and couldn't afford to host the state tournament. 
• Easy Solution From Coaches - By unanimous vote, the Junior coaches decided each team would cover their own travel expenses for 2025. Cost to the  Legion Baseball - Zero. $0.00.
• Did the Leaders accept the coaches solution? They could have announced an exception for 2025 and then developed a comprehensive solution with a year to study and consider the matter. Did they accept? No! Total rejection. Rejection by whom?
• No! As if knee jerk response, the state board will pay 100% of D1 Junior hotel rooms.  If you aren't gonna pay for hotels then we will pick up the tab. We must follow the past. Whoa! Well that's a $10,000 liability up from Zero.
• Other hosts found out. Gotta make policy on the fly. Zoom meeting time. A statewide policy came out - 50% of hotel bills with a cap on the total. Bloomington said no- our deal is 100% from state or no tournament.
• Ok make an exception and the state will pay 100% for 2025 and 50% thereafter. Whew.  $40,000 liability - up from $10,000 and way up from Zero!
• But the D1 Senior state has 16 teams versus others with 8. D1 commitment was recently doubled. Current liability -$50,000 up from $40,000 up from $10,000 up from Zero!
• The liability is almost half of the entire annual revenue of the baseball operation!
• Who developed the policy?  Who drove that conversation? Who approved the policy? Who voted how? It has been under wraps and not subject to any outside review. 

The board  never published any of the policy chyanges or updates. It is the largest financial commitment ever for Legion baseball. And it benefits just  a tiny few. In D2 Senior, only 5 1/2% of the teams will get a first night in a hotel with just 3% of D2 Senior teams getting a second night. These are the same guys that ended All-Stars. Its stunning. That is the Legion baseball leadership hard at work.

Issue  - Splitting Divisions for Competitive Balance and Opportunity - D2 Senior

• Minnesota Division 2 Senior has approximately 130 teams combining MSHSL's a and AA divisions for the Legion season - school student populations from 0-400.
•  It has 7 substate playoff spots that accomodate 49 teams besides hosts.
• 130 teams is the largest Legion baseball division in the entire country. 
• It has the shortest regular season in the country ending just after the 4th of July.
• The D2 regular season is 40% shorter than any other Minnesota division. No partial refind of teams fees has ever been offered.
• Unlike any of the other Minnesota divisions, almost 60% are eliminated from play before ever smelling the cut grass of a substate playoff. 
• No other state restricts regular seasons and playoffs to its teams like Minnesota. 
• Surrounding states with far fewer teams have 3, 4 , and 5 divisions plus some doing a JV level or a Team 2 level. North Dakota added a division for towns with populations under 1,200.
• Every where you look you see diligent efforts made to give kids a chance at competitive success. Not Minnesota.

Why and Who  Will It Never Change?

Why not split into the A and Double A like high school (and everybody else)?

• The issue is not talked about for D2. You have to look at D1 discussions and actions.
• The baseball  board has tons of members from outstate and the D2 level with the apparent hardest line against divisional reform being "leadership" - your board officers. 

Comments from board members include:

In response to a coach inquiry at a substate, a supervbising board member allegedly replied: Shut up go play ball. Its never going to change"

• Regarding a D1 vote against splitting - If it goes through then they will want it for D2.
• Member: I don't have the time. Its going to take extra work.
• Officer: When I played for a small team, I just laced up my bpoots and went to battle.  I loved the challenge of playing the big guys. (we bet he got his butt kicked)
• Maybe today we would hear the "we cant afford more hotel rooms".

Whats best for the boys or personal agendas?

Running a big program takes time. You do it long enough you may lose sight of what should be paramount - the players.  When you see what happened to All-Stars, you know that their statement that the  All Star vision and mission aligned witrh the Legion board - well it casts serious doubt on their claim. 

Issue: D1 Divisional Split 

D1 Senior plits programs as small as 400 against programs with enrollments as large as 3,600. Its a huge disparity. A board member proposed splitting the D1 into two parts similar to the high school AAA amd AAAA. A survey of programs under 1,100 enrollment found 62 of the teams wanting the split with 3 wanting to host a state tournament.  The proposal went so far as to map out substate playoffs foreach group. It was voted down on a split vote. The board remains divided today.

The strongest opponents of a D1 split are from D2. Leading the anti-Split crowd are the very same Leadership guys (sans Schaub) that killed All-Stars. Some of the arguments are listed above. Arguments continue today such as:

• Teams are just tired of getting their ass kicked
• Great programs from smaller districts have no chance of winning  ( at state or at substates)
• Coaches have called me wanting to apply for that division
• No one guarantees a state tournament.
• Don't back door me into a third division.

Interestingly in Randy's Winter Update he praised the Board for spurring team number growth by adding a second division.  But.. that was in 1987, four years after the high school added Double AA. In 2000, the MSHL added to Triple A. In 2015 they added a Quad A.  Legion remains stuck in 1987.

No one in the country or in the state of Minnesota follows the Legion example.

• The same hardliners that dominate the baseball board insist that their position must be maintained. 
• What emphasis on players and coaches and teams?
• Is the priority on the boys or is it for personal power?

Other Issues - State Tournaments - D1 Senior Tournament

Minnesota has claimed bragging rights for the largest state tournamnet in all of Legio.

The D1  Tourney has lost some luster and faces the same headwinds of other events - lower attendance, fewer volunteers, fewer and fewer sponsors and advertisers.

• Finding a host for a giant 16 team event grows more and more difficult. Maybe the housing bribe will help?
• The D1 tournament is on its 3rd bracket format in five years.
• Outstate Minnesota has been virtually locked out of National regional trips since converting to a 16-team tourney over twenty tears ago. Minnesota sends two teams. With rare excdeption, all regional spots have gone to large metro programs. 
• Nebraska faced a similar issue.
• The state director has voiced concerns about the 16-team monster tournament.
• No comprehensive plan has been developed with almost any attempt to make changes being blocked. The D1 tourney is stuck on yesterday. No change in sight. 

Good luck! No matter what the stage we will cheer the teams and the players.

Other Issues - State Tournaments - Single Versus Double Elim Formats

The official American Legion playoff tournament format, like the NCAA,  is Double Elimination with an 8-team being the preferred tournament size. An exception was made for the National World Series to accomodate television contracts.

• The Minnesota D1 tournament with its fixation on size, chose a 16-team double elim format. Two additional formats have been tried under the Schaub regime. Almost every American Legion senior state format is 8 double elim.
• D1 Juniors and Tier 1 had been 8 team double elim until they were forced to abandon the double elim and go with the singkle elim format. 
• D2 tourneys have been single elim.

Differences Single and Double

• A single elmination tournament is a one-and-done thing. Lose one game and you have no path to a championship. It has fewer games and is completed in one less day than a double elim.
• In double elim, every game you win takes you closer on the path to a championship. Every game is do or die.  In the championship round, a team might have to beat the other team twice. That gets exciting. Four of five years for D1 Juniors, the team needing to win two games won the first game with a final game for the championship.  Very exciting for  the boys and fans. Double elim typically takes one day more than single.

The D1 Junior Coaches voted unanimously to keep the double elim format. The Board or someone said no. The tournament must be single elim. Tough luck.

Why? Its simple. Hotel costs. The religion of the Minnesota Baseball Board and its leadership, is free hotel rooms for some of the teams. 

Summary

All-Stars is not an isolated issue. It may be the  most abusive of all issues in that something was literally taken away from players that was of high quality and, to the players, a very important Legion program. 

ALl of these issues are decided b y people insulated from public view. Most of the issues and their colusions or lack of solution now draw straight back to the Leadershiop group and their close allies. 

No one has a say or voice beyond that tiny group.

Do the boys matter in those equations? We don't think so.

What standard of conduct should anyone expect from a state director and his vice-directors?

What standard(s) of conduct should be expected of a board member or a board officer?

What should players and coaches and parents expect from a Legion baseball board and its officers? 

• Should Legion board members be allowed to use their position to manipulate or maybe cheat to giove their home team a game or playoff advantage? There's been issues you know.
• Should a board member be honest?
• Sjhould a board member treat others with respect even if they are not board members??
• Should an ethical backbone be required? But who would hold anyone accountable?
• What should the State American Legion expect from those they have entrusted the Legion name and its Legion principles? Are there any ethical expectations?

Is it OK to craete  this phony narrative and then attack All Star founders, who happen to be members of the American Legion, and label them, as "frauds"? We hate to tell you, Barron and Perry have pretty unblemished records in Legion baseball. They are not the ones creating false stories and allegations. They would have every right to yell back - Who's the fraud now!

The actions on display show you what happens when people are entrusted with their own accountability.  Ethic diminish it not vanish. There are no checks and balances.

The Modus Operandi  of Legion Boards - Per A State Director With Experience

• Do what you want to do - no one will mnow.
• If they know - they won't care.
• If they care - they won't do anything.
• If they try to do anything - no one will listen or join.
• If they try to do something - get rid of them.
• So do what you want.
• Just wait it out.

A Lawyers Mantra - purportedly from F. Lee Bailey

• Facts are the facts. If you have the facts of the case - then argue the facts.
• The law is the law. If you havew the law on your side - then argue the law.
• If you have neither - make stuff up or lie like hell.

  About the Letter – It Comes from the State Legion

• This letter was created and delivered on Minnesota American Legion letterhead.
• This letter was delivered in an official Minnesota American Legion envelope with the St. Paul Minnesota American Headquarters as the return address.
• This letter was also delivered as an attachment to an official Minnesota American Legion email address.
• The signature is that of Tim Engstrom. He is a full-time employee and the official Communications Officer of the Minnesota American Legion. Engstrom offices at the Minnesota American Legion headquarters in St. Paul, MN.
• ·We take this Cease-and Desist letter to be an action of the Minnesota American Legion as it is all wrapped up as an official communique.
• Who with the State Legion organization, if anyone, reviewed the material or was informed opr consulted  on the development of the material conmtained ion the Cease and Desist letter?
• Who approved the material?
• Who at the State Legion performed due diligence to verify the truthfulness or accuracy of the material contained on their letterhead?
• Who at the State Legion condoned labeling two members of the American Legion as "frauds"?

We take the involvement or the appearance of involvemnet by the state Legion organization to be a serous matter.

Phone calls were made to State Director Randy Schaub after the C&D letter was delivered.

Several people wanted an explanation and they wanted to see a continuation of All-Stars. One person from the All-Star commiteee who we will call 'Mr. C" pressed Schaub over several phone calls.

Director Randy pushed the C&D letter's story that he help author. Mr. C contended that you cannot legally change established conttractual relationships on a whim. You cannot change of your mind and issue some proclaimation you made up to claim violations of commonly known protocols and processes.

Randy and the board entered into a contractual situation when they first established All Stars and authorized the committee to develop and execute the plan. It was a kind of  - Come on Randy - you know this letter isn't true.

This is an example of people on this Baseball Board that believe that they can do whatever they please for what ever reason they come up with just like real dictators. Next thing you know there will be a new "baseball tariff" imposed by this group to fund hotel rooms for kids at state tournaments.  How critical that need is.

Randy Schaub quickly gave up. He dropped the false "They Hijacked the Legion Brand" story.

After admitting the premikse of the letter was not valid,  Mr. Schaub came up witth another storyline. Actually two new storyliones.

 Schaubhe was willing to put forth Storlyline #2  in public discussion.

Schaub's  Storyline #3 was being developed as a secret new story that he barely made mention of to Mr. C.

This is some truly devious stuff.

Honestly, we never thought these people would behave in such a manner.

Let's Re-Write History

The premise presented in the C&D letter is a blatant attempt to substitute clearly established history with an after-the-fact narrative that is and was just plain false. 

• Poof. Presto Chango says Tim and Randy.  We don't like Mike and Bruce and we gotta get rid of them. And they can take their little All- Star program with them. Bye.
• The message: We don't want All-Stars or any other expression of a "more modern Legion" around  anymore. 
• We got more important things - like how about hotel rooms. Now that's what our Legion "leaders" get excited about. 
• So let's call  All-Stars and Barron and Perry  "Outsiders" on November 1 2024. 
• And let's magicly apply our Legion board's outsider requirements way back to 2019! That is sort of like an ambush in reverse! 
• Oops! They didn;t get a contrcat in 2019! Oops. They didn't have a letter either in 2019! We got 'em trapped in our brand new Atificial 2024 Legion BoardReality!
• Just say it three times. Wave your wand . And then click your heels while you utter those magic words - Fraud Fraud Fraud. Bring forward some Fraud!

But Reality and Truth Are Actually Pretty Simple

• No you don't need a boiling cauldron.
• You don;t need to hide behind a wall of silence and freeze out communication with your disappearing act.
• You don't need to deceive or victim blame.

Internal is not external and it never was any different.

You don't get to make up a new rule set today and apply it backwards like you owened some time machine.

The entire premise of the letter was plain false.

All-Stars never stole or violated anything - not a contract not any letter.

• Nor did its founders.

All Stars promised to honor the American Legion and promote Legion baseball.

• We accomplished that mission.

We promised quality and we delivered.

We promised to open  doors for Legion  players and Legion families across the entire state.

• And we delivered

We promised to be open  and honest in all of our dealings..

• And we delivered

Any action of this magnitude is the responsibility of the entire group of board members.

Barron, in his presentation to the baseball board on September 21, asked the assembly to create a committee to foster better discussion and open communication. It was clear that much of the audioence was hostile. Randy Schaub, in his last conversation with Mike Perry, noted that his board members made numerous negative comments after the report as Randy put it -as members focused on their own personal agendas.

Apparently Randy joined the negatiove "personal agenda" crowd as he shut off all direct communication. You only raise the level of hostilities when you hide behind a Wall of Silence.

Ahhh! What great leadership was on full display - out of sight apparently.

The Cease & Desist Letter Represents the Entire  Board 

Yes. The letter, its storyline, and its actions speak for every board member. 

Each person presumably was provided a copy for their review and comment. To do less than that would suggest that the State Director's representation of the baseball board as a "democracy" was made in bad faith (Winter Update 2025)

We certainly know that certain board members are the bigger players that carry more weight. These shot-callers include  the director, vice-directors and secretary and other of the more senior board members as well.

• Tim Engstrom penned the letter and did so with obvious enthusiasm and perhaps excessive zeal.
• State Director Schaub took ownership of the narrative in later discussions with a third party. 
• Every baseball board member and officer presumably read and approved of this letter in advance. They should have been consulted and should have voted to approve such a communication. To do less would display be anti-denocratic (be autocratioc) which contradicts fundamental American Legion values and stated principles.

•  Several state Legion officials were copied with the C&D letter and its falsehoods. Were they consulted in advance? If so, you were misled.
• ·Every board member and officer received a copy of this letter when it was sent
• Every board member and officer has had the opportunity to modify or retract the letter or the allegations that are made in this letter. We assume none of the members had objection.
• Every board member and every baseball officer knows the statements made are false representations 

We assume boards members and officers are knowlegeable in Legion procedures and processes. You know the difference between internal and external. And you also know that you don't create new rules in secret and apply them backwards.

Let us put it bluntly.

 Every one of you knows it is a pack of lies. It is shameful. 

You should hold yourselves to a higher standard.

Your Etchical Bar should not be something that you can stub your toe on.