ALL STARS WAS KILLED BECAUSE - STORY #1

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Story Line #1 – The All-Star Hijacking -  The Cease-and-Desist Letter

Read the letter fully. 

· On one hand, the letter is intended to kill the all-star program.

· The content clearly intends to justify and explain their actions.

· The content appears as much as an emotional outburst or an attack as anything. 

· As simple “no more all-stars” or “sorry we changed our minds” would suffice.

· Instead, the letter blames the all-star program and the founders for illegally and wrongfully hijacking the Legion brand to the detriment of Legion baseball. Blaming others is typical bully action. 

· The letter specifically refers to Barron and Perry as frauds. That’s a bit nasty no matter how you spin it. That term will fit others in this story.

· Our reaction: 100% false. What a crock might be more accurate.

About the Letter – It Comes from the State Legion Itself

· 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 as an action of the Minnesota American Legion as it is all wrapped up as an official communique.

· It is also the official communication of the baseball board, in particular the director, vice-directors and secretary. It is their storyline, make no mistake about it.

· Engstrom serves on the Baseball Board of Directors as an officer – Secretary. 

· Engstrom sits at the front table in board meetings along with State Director Randy Schaub and Vice Directors Jeff Miller and Brandon Raymo.

· We presume that Engstrom zealously penned this letter at the direction of the board officers, support of some of the baseball board, and presumably consulted with his superiors at the Minnesota American Legion. 

· Every baseball board member and officer presumably read and approved of this letter in advance.

· 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.

· Every board member and officer has had the opportunity to modify or retract the letter or the allegations that are made in this letter.

Every board member and every baseball officer knows the statements made are false. 

Let us put it bluntly. Every one of you knows it is a pack of lies. It is shameful.

The letter’s context refers to the Legion All Star program as if it was some outside or independent operation that stole the Legion name and logo and did various nefarious things as some rogue entity. The letter labels Bruce Barron and Mike Perry as ‘frauds”.

That is a total fabrication and its authors know it.

· Legion All-Stars was developed from Day 1 as a direct and official function of Legion baseball. It was never considered as an external function. Board members and officers unquestionably knew the positioning of the program as the one and only official all-star program of Minnesota Legion baseball.

· The proposal was made and approved in 2019, some years ago.

· The All-Star program was a direct report to State Director Schaub with annual summary reports provided to him each fall. The State Director had All-Stars in his “personal” portfolio just as other board member have their own turf or chosen assignments.

· Barron asked Mr. Schaub three times for a board subcommittee to be formed to facilitate greater communication and provide direct liaison and involvement with our group. Barron requested a subcommittee when he gave his report on September 19, 2024. Every request was ignored. In 2023, the State Director was asked directly for direct board member involvement, Schaub rolled his eyes and replied – “you guys are my development committee.”

· It was clear to all parties from the very proposal dinner meeting in Glencoe that we would only do an all-star program as an integral part of Legion baseball. We did not propose an independent or wildcat operation. There was never any mention or any consideration for the all-star program to be a licensee. Everyone at the initial meeting and every single board member knew the difference between a board function and an outside operation. It was “we together” not “us versus them”.

o Mike Perry, at the inception of All-Stars, served as a non-voting member of the Baseball Board as the D1 Junior Director.

o Both Mr. Perry and Barron had been involved when an outside organization – the Legion Hub – had worked out an agreement with the Baseball Board and the American Legion to represent Legion baseball and provide services for Legion baseball and to engage the public. This involved a contract between the parties and a letter of authorization to use terminology and logos. Perry was the State Director at the time.

· As the official All-Star program of the baseball board, no such contract or authorization letter was required. Randy knows that. So do his henchmen. Legion baseball did not need to license Legion baseball to itself. Come on kids! Many of the officers and current board members were part of that Legion Hub deal.

· The Legion Baseball Board was fully aware of the direct relationship between All-Stars and Legion baseball. It was unquestioned. The All-Star program was THE official all-star program of Minnesota American Legion baseball.

o The Board approved tournament sponsorship funding.

o The Legion wrote checks sponsorship checks annually. 

o The state website included links to the Prospect Series

o The Minnesota Legion baseball mobile app featured links to the Prospect Series – Legion All-Stars. Tim Engstrom managed that mobile app.

o All branding clearly identified

o The Legion brand was not only properly presented it was presented in a premium fashion that every board member should have taken pride in. The American Legion was presented in a positive manner and presented with honor.

· 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. Maybe the board officers thought they could spin it or sell that storyline to officials at State Headquarters?

And Then Storyline #1 Melted Away for the Fiction It Was

The Cease-and-Desist Letter came out Friday November 1st. There had been a virtual communications blackout since September 21st, the day that State Director Randy cut off communications with Mike Perry. We refer to that moment in time as the ‘Day Randy Went Waldo’ – Where’s Waldo? Where’s Randy? And why did he hide from Mike? True leadership is rarely displayed by hiding. We first heard about it from associates that attended a baseball meat raffle at the Bloomington Legion when the communications guy bragged that he had sent a cease-and-desist letter that ended all-stars.

As the letter circulated, people asked what in the world was going on. They killed all-stars? They called you guys frauds? Calls began to Randy Schaub. A member of the All-Star group (we will call Mr. C) contacted State Director Schaub. Mr. C is an attorney so the law and the truth matter to him. What the heck was going on? What in the world happened? Note: Mr. C was at the very first dinner meeting with Randy and Raymo where the all-star proposal was presented and discussed. So Mr. C did not start from a position of ignorance.

· Schaub tried to sell his storyline – Mike and Bruce had improperly misappropriated the Legion name and anything related to baseball. They had misrepresented All-Stars and were frauds. 

· They didn’t get written approval for the outside operation. Etc. Etc. Etc

· Mr. C discussed the enormous gap between known reality and Schaub’s attempt to rewrite history with a false narrative. Schaub knew his story was a fairytale.

· Apparently, some legal principles were discussed. Maybe it was just ignorance of basic legal principles that Schaub’s group wished to ignore. 

Schaub’s alternate reality storyline contained in the C&D letter quickly crumbled. 

· The letter’s story was a house of cards. It fell down quickly. There was no truth to it. 

· So, Schaub just abandoned Story #1 – The All-Star Hijacking could not be defended once it was in the daylight.

· But Schaub and his people have never retracted it or corrected the Storyline that they know to be false. 

· It stands unchallenged in the files of the State Legion and remains as a definitive document before State Legion officials.

· We demand the Baseball Board and its officers retract their false story.

· We think that is wrong and it may be a part of a formal complaint. Let the perpetrators defend themselves.

Hijacking Conclusions and Comments

The storyline presented in the letter was just plain fiction. It was false. Maybe Schaub or Engstrom were able to sell the phony story to members of the State Legion executive group. Maybe they bought it. Schaub and his board know it’s a phony story that could not survive even one phone conversation with a knowledgeable person. Yet the storyline exists as the official version.

· Did people abuse their positions? 

· Did Legion baseball board officers, who must be elected by the State Legion betray core principles of the American Legion. 

· Did they make false or misleading statements to mislead Legion officials?

· Did a Legion employee misuse his position?

A Note to Board Member:

The letter is your letter. The words are your words. Yes, that includes every one of you. Engstrom may have penned the actual letter. He did not do so by himself. Take ownership folks. It was done on your behalf.

· Officers Randy, “Slick”, and Brandon. Own the false and misleading statements. Own the words. They are your words. Doesn’t the buck stop with you that sit at the front table?

· But you, too, Al and Jim and Vern and Bruce. You should know better.

· Gail and Tom and Seth and Mike and Mike. You have greater integrity than this shameful letter. Right?

· Every letter and every word in the C&D letter are the words of each board member. Wear them with pride. They stain your reputation and your position.