What about the boys?

---

We share this material in the hope that people make a better Legion program. We hope for open minded people to come onto the board and to perhaps finally reform an outdated system. Legion has a tremendous base of players and programs and teams and coaches. There are some really deidicated and talent people on the board of directors even among those we may disagree with. 

Good people in a bad system will fail. Wrong people may take over a bad system and that makes for ugly.

Any and every youth sports program should put its number one priority on those that it intends to serve - the players. The paramount question every director, board member, manager, officer and coach should ask - 

• How do we better the playing experience of the boys? 
• How do we better serve their interests and their goals? 
• How did I, how did we make it better for players and coaches this year? 
• In Legion baseball - how did I positively impact the program, the coaches, and trhe players?

A player focus can be difficult for adults to sustain whether in coaching or in program administration. Adults have different reasons for coaching. Or running a community or Legion program. People have differing reasons for signing onto a baseball board. Baseball programs have to be able to sustain their team and player base. In Legion,  we need to maintain the basic regular season and put on playoffs and state tournament to end the year.

If you talk to National Director Steve Cloud, he encourages state Legion progreanms to think out of the box to make Legion baseball more attractive in a world of ever increasing competitive pressure. Director Cloud was supportive of Minnesota's Legion All Star program as he continues to push more states to install an all-star program. He encourages inter-state all-star play. He encourages creativity and innovation. Talking to Steve Cloud was like talking to Randy Schaub in past years.

Legion All Stars came on the Minnesota baseball scene a few years back. No one knew that Legion coaches and families and players would have such a positive response. Kids dream of playing baseball in college. So do their parents. Kids love meeting other kids and making friends. Yes. You make friends in your local community. All-Stars is like college where you meet guys from other communities with different backgrounds.  

• Who knew the college baseball community would embrace a Legion baseball program in so mamy ways and with so many coaches.
• Who knew we would start with a trial of 40 players and three teams and grow so quickly to include a junior and senior level with 175 players and 11 teams.
• And who knew that our plans to grow add an additional tournament to accomofdate the tremendous "over flow" interest from an additioanl 175 players in 2024.

And Who Knew

• And who knew that the Minnesota Legion Baseball Board of Directors would work for almost a year to undercut and push away an all-star program that was built for them, for the Minnesota Legion Baseball program.
• And who knew that a founder's brief baseball board presentation desighed to bring what seemed a hostile crowd would result in 40 days and 40 nights of a direct communications blackout.
• And who knew that out of the hostile cold shoulder of silence and a Cease and Desist Letter would be sent to kill All Stars with no discussion and no attempt whatsoever to resolve whatever hidden issues existed for those that called themselves Legion baseball "Leadership".
• And who knew that we would count four, yes four, different stories each claiming to be the real justification, the true cause that Legion All-Stars had to be cancelled. 
• And, finally, who knew that we would read those four stories and anall;yze them in detail, and conclude every story was a phony. False. Misleading. Call it what you want. The truth is easy - tell it once and repeat it. Lies tend to change and grow in complexity and emotional delivery.
• Who Knew

But We Had Been Warned

All-Star success was supposed to be "ours together" with the baseball board.  To be clear, we know  success was embraced by some on the baseball board. But a powerful few found all-star program growth and success to be upsetting and negative. The greater the success and growth of All-Stars, the more certain people undermined and withdrew support.  

We had been warned by learned Legion observers in Minnesota and at the National level that, as the program evolved and developed - 

• Watch out. 
• There are people that prefer us to be mediocre or, better yet, fail altogether.
• But, we might be successful it would prove some people wrong that canit be wrong.
• The success of a program for Legion kids showed the power of an Idea that had Potential.
• Even though the state director said he welcomed new people and new ideas, others that would prove more influential or ppowerful didn't want new ideas and they dodn;t want additional programs, and they most certainly didn't want anyone crowding their personal turf.

Only In Minnesota

Those learned Legion observers were only too right. This could only happen in Minnesota. 

• It could only happen with a seriously outdated Legion system that is autocratic not democratic seemingly a sytem that makes the State Legion organization appear almost hypocritical.
• No other state would throw away successful program that benefits the players and the Legion baseball program
• Only this board. 
• Only those few that identify as Leadership.  

The All Star Program experience is perhaps the most public issue or example. There are others.

Raising Serious Ethical Issues

A series of changing stories was offered up to different people at different times. Truth needs one telling without needed revision or new storylines.

We have reviewed each storyline in detail. 

• The stories are each, in our view, simply phony attempts to mask the real basis for their actions. Stories are filled with false statements and misleading statements.
• Is lying permissible in Legion baseball?
• We believe the ever-changing stories raise serious ethical issues.
• We allege 'conduct unbecoming".
• We question the fitness of the leadership to hold positions of responsibility

It Took 40 Days and 40 Nights To Create Story #1 - They Hijacked Our Legion Brand

The decision was made by baseball "leadership' to end All-Stars, as we learned in the Secret Story #3. Leadership = Director Randy Schaub, Vice Directiors Jeff "Slick" Miller and Brandon Raymo with Secretary Tim Engstrom, the author of the Cease and Desist letter.

• Story Context: Those outsiders were frauds. The five-year old all-star program was a fraud. They never had a permission slip to use the Legion logo. 
• Ergo: Thus the All Star program had to be ended and the All-Star founders had to be kicked out of Legion baseball for damaging American Legion Baseball.

 So Let's See

•  So the entire board must have been hoodwinked since Day 1 by those frauds. What about  the board members or their programs that sent players to the fradulent All Star event. Were they fooled or were they in cahoots? Board members included: Brandon Raymo, Jim Peck, Gail Kalata, Bruce Young, Seth Pugh, Michael Arvidson, Tom Coombe, Wes Thompson, and Scott McCready. 
• Perhaps all of  those Legion players that participated in a fraud should any of them lose their eligibility for playing in what must have been unsanctioned tournamments?
• Try explaining this bogus storyline to players and parents and Legion coaches. It was shameful at best

The Story In The Cease And Desist Letter Was The Fraud

40 days nights passed. Time enough for Randy and Slick and Brandon and Engstrom to get their official story together. Over a month to tell the truth right up front. To tell their truth on Legion letterhead and have their truest story signed by a State Legion employee. The story was 100% fake. A dishonesty. A falsehood.

A Flurry Of New After-The-Fact Stories Claimed to Be The Real Actual Cause 

Less than a week after All Stars was killed, Story #1 was challenged as being false, which it was. A week after ending All-Stars, the State Director had to scrap the first story. How do you defend something so obviously fake? You don;t. So you try something else.

The Caustic Charade

1. The state director rolled out the 'real" reason All Stars had been ended  and "caustic' was its name. Adult feelings were hurt. Why was "caustic" not listed in the Cease and Desit letter of it was the real reason? Why put up a fake story first? Well, some discussions were held with the state director raising a possibility of mending fences. The leaders wanted an apology. An apology was issued. Director Randy accepted. But wait. Vice directors Miller and Raymo wanted an in-person apology then they refused to show up. Well, new stories had been cooked up while Randy was negotiating the future of all-stars. 
2.  Likely week to ten days after killing All-Stars, an email was likely received by Leadership tyoes. It had been sent out October 22nd after the effort to develop the proposal for a test program as requested by the State Director. Well that email must have scared the pants off the "leaders". They thought (correctly) All-Stars was dead and the founders gone. They feared the All-Star program would be continued independently. They feared a pilot program for "zip code teams". What could the leaders do? Well, they could try to cut off potential Legion sponsorships from their imaginary foe. They came up with a story to be sent in secret to every one of the 531 Legion posts in Minnesota- we were not supposed to see it. What we call the Secret Letter Story #3, laid out a tremendous effort by the baseball board to review an idea that was presented at the fall meeting. There were discussions and rule reviews and determinations and even a decision. It all happened at an official board of directors meeting. None of the official board actions could be verified in official Legion meeting records. None of it. The premise of the XSecret Storyline appeared to us to be fiction. But the Secret Story did present leaderships latest new reason for killing All-Stars - an email presented an Idea that was a Potential for a possible Legion pilot program in 2025. What a lame of not a stupid excuse. The letter advised post commanders to keep their money and deny sponsorship requests. Wow. Those guys were chasing ghosts. The All Star guys already advised the  leaders that they were done. We believe the entire storyline is just bogus fiction. The claim that "idea of a potential" was the causal excuse for action taken on November 1st just defies the imagination. The Secret Letter Story was , in our opinion, just plain false and misleading. What was wrong with those pepole? Why so many statements and stories? Ebery one of them appeared to us to be, to be blunt, just a pack of lies. But there was another story was coming! And its a whopper. 
3. Enter the fourth story from the desk of Tim Engstrom - the same author from Story #1 - Those  frauds  robbed the Legion. In Stopry #4, Engstrom told as wild tale about the All Star founders and their plans as one could cook up without some abuse of substance. Maybe the post commanders would appreciate his fiction. Tim's Wild Email Story had Barron and Perry  coming to their towns and coming to their Legion post. They were going to steal their best baseball players. They were going to steal their Legion coaches. They would steal  entire teams! Whew!  They were going to steal hard earned Legion posts dollars to launch a rogue league to cpompete with American Legion Baseball. Dont\'t let em! Wow. What could be crazier than Tim's Wild Email Story - the 4th story from leadership in two weeks. What was crazier is that these leaders apparently sold this crazed pack of false and sold it to other Minnesota baseball board members. 

Our Commentary - Pretty Much Shocked Even Today

We had not looked at this material for several months. 

We know or are familiar with the people involved. 

We like the people involved.

Maybe there are explanations. Maybe we are misreading somethings. Maybe not.

What is patently clear is that decent communications can prevent spinning out of control. 

• We cannot stop shaking our heads with what we read and how the people involved acted.
• The Minnesota Legion Board - the system- lets board members enjoy relative anonymity. No one really knows who said what to whom or did what.
• Telling multiple and changing stories looks more dishonest than honest.
• It took 40 days to create one story and two weeks to brew up three more, each one more sensational that the first.
• Ethics are what you have when no one is looking.

Sherlock came along to sift through the clues. Why a detective you ask?  While the baseball  board spokesman brtistles at the terms: "secret Society" and "private club", the reality is that the descriptions are exactly right spot on. This isd what we see:

• The individuals most responsible for killing All-Stars sought to obscure themselves with terms like "the board of directors" and "the leadership". 
• Those responsible shielded themselves behind other board members and the director; they used an over zealous surrogate; and one other stayed background.
• These individuals launched a series of deceptive stories that we know to be filled with false and misleading statements to hide their actions and their motivations.
• They worked together (conspired) to cover up their actions. They  placed blame on others -  in this case the All Star founders. 
• They promoted their false stories to coverup their actions and motivations to Minnesota Legion offficials and also fellow baseball board members.
• The "leaders" stories have not previously been published to Legion coaches, players, or families. Secrecy is core to the Legion Baseball Board Code of Conduct, if there is such a thing.
• Real leaders setting the example for our youth? More like what we would expect from a teenage gang caught in a lie.

So Sherlock -  Who Dunnit? Who Killed All Stars

"Cheerio" says Sherlock as he oberved: 

• The actions taken by certain individuals was unprecedented in Legion baseball history.
• Who were the main drivers, the real decision makers? What was their motivations?
• What do the clues tell? 

What were the clues Mister Sherlock?

Sherlock: I looked at their words, their descriptions, and their documents. Oy was very clear who dunnit.

• At the very least, no action to kill such visible and successful all-star program could possibly occur without the full agreement of the officers (the director, vice directors, secretary) plus their closest associates. 
• There were opponents of all-stars at the beginning. One vice-director spoke to his opposition but the al;l-star experiment was [approved anyway. His track record since has been to oppose or rescind almost any change or anything new. He remained opposed to All-Stars and was a main driver to end the program.
• Another vice director bumped heads with the All-Star group early on requiring the state director's intervention that had the vice director issuing an apology to people on and around the all-star committee. Thereafter, some observers described a "controlled anger' toward the all-star group. Today we call that a grudge.
• One board member was called out by angered coaches ahead of the 2023 substates for  "shennanigans" and a pattern of unfair  manipulations going back years to advantage his team while disadvantaging the other teams. When another supervising board member failed in his attempt to remedy the matter, All Star founder Barron was asked to contact the state director to  intervene.  Randy intervened greatly upsetting the offending board member. That board member pulled his support for all-stars support and threw in with all-star opponents. That board member pulled his shenanigans again at a 2024 substate. Another grudge.
• Winter 2023-24 sponsorship fiunding was undermined by "certain" board members.
• At the spring meeting 2024, a vice director motioned to cut Legion board funding of all-stars at the spring 2024 meeting.  That effort was led by vice director Miller with support from Vice Director Raymo and the special advisor. Confirmation from meeting minutes and conversations with the director. 
• One guy put his name on letters and emails. Secretary Tim Engstrom signed two of the stories. Nothing to guess there.
• The Cease and Desist letter of November 1st was penned and signed by board secretary Tim Engstrom. Note the absence of the other officers names on the letter - Director Schaub and vice directors Miller and Raymo. The ever enthusiastic Engstrom takes direction from the officers, not the other way around.
• Director Schaub took direct ownership of the storyline contained in the Cease and Desist Letter in conversations with our Mr. C. 
• The director promoted a second story we called the "Caustic Charade" that claimed there had been some comments upsetting to certain decision makers. The director may have made as genuine gestrure to patch things up with an apology request as he asked for and accepted an apology. He identified Mr. Raymo and Mr. Miller as the two key decision makers that were most hard line. The vice directors refused to accept the apology sent ro Randy. They insisted on an in-person meeting instead. True to form, both Miller and Raymo backed out. However, The Cuastic Charade put the names Miller and Raymo front and center, again.
• Who made the decision to end all stars? In their own words, it was not the Baseball Board. The Secret Letter Story stated that the baseball board did not make the decision to end all-stars. Several board members have corroberated. Individual board members said they were told of the decision in advance but they did not vote.  
• The Cease and Desist letter did not CC the entire board. Sherlock wondered if board members have even seen a copy of the C&D Letter that laid out the first story, the only story on the table on November 1st when all-stars was killed. Every other story that followed sought to come up wioth a different explanation after the fact of cancellation. 
• The Secret Letter Story stated that "leadership" had made the "dificult decision" to end all stars. There is no reason to doubt their claim - these are the peole that took control away from the board. They are the ones that made the decisions and took the actions and issued four stories on their own.  'Leadership' is a term claimed by the 'executive board' or 'officers' - Randy Schaub, Jeff "Slick" Miller, Brandon Raymo, and Secretary Tim Engstrom.  Yes. In their words. They confessed. Actually it appeared to be more of a boast or a brag thing in the Secret Letter.
• Those calling themselves "the leadership" are most certainly the decision makers - the perpetrators - shielded their identities using terminology - "leadership" and the 'baseball board of directors" and the "board" . They wanted to be anonymous to the outside world, other board members, and Minnesota American Legion officials.
• Sherlock was unwilling to name the fifth party but has every indication that this person's acquiesence would be needed before any decision would be delivered. 
• Randy's 2025 Winter Update stated that Schaub favors opportunity but others on his board do not support 'opportunity'. He then implied that they have the votes. Who have been the most staunch anti-opportunity members? The vice directors and their inner circle.

Sherlock's Who Dunnit Conclusion 

It is simply in their own words and their own documents. 

• They" told you who -  Randy Schaub, Jeff "Slick" Miller, Brandon Raymo, and Secretary Tim Engstrom. 
• And the state director, who may have caved in with  'if you can't beat 'em join em", told you who led the effort - "Slick" Miller, Brandon Raymo. 
• We learned from the Apology episode that the hardliner decision makers were Jeff "Slick" Miller and Brandon Raymo.

So You Really Want To Know?

Why will 200 or 300  Legion baseball players from all across the state not get to suit up in from of 35 or 40 college baseball coaches?

It is just one of a pattern of decisions that shape Legion baseball in Minnesota.

With the same people in charge.

Motivation - Addressing the Why? -  

The Why is not that mysterious.  

1. There is the behavior of people in a Closed System sauch as the Minnesota Legion baseball board.
2. Personal Agendas, as Mr. Schaub calls them: Personal grudges, personal power plays, and pursuit of personal interests over the interests of the boys and coaches.
3. Fear and rejection of those they label "outsiders".
4. Pure control.

1) The Behavior of People in A Closed System - The Minnesota Baseball Board of Directors

Closed System behavior best defined by the David Lee Jones article. In our opinion, with 80 years of combined Legion baseball experience including years as a baseball board member and state director, this fiots the Legion baseball closed system to a tee. A batting tee of course.

• Leaders tend to dominate or over-function, which causes others members of the system to acquiesce or under-function. A few at the top are disproportionately responsible for the many. 
• Such systems often have people who function as dictators or peace-mongers at the top, and may have unduly rigid boundaries.
•  Closed systems breed fear, anger, repression, paranoia and suspicion. 
• They tend to acquiesce to the least mature members or those who hold the most power (who are often the most immature). 
• Closed systems are marked by incessant blaming of others and usually seek a quick fix to conflict rather than managing anxiety maturely. 

That pretty well nails it. Do we need to assign names to roles?

2) From Challenging Personalities to Hardened Personal Agendas

• At the beginning. Director Schaub referred the baseball board as 'his dysfuntional family" filled with difficult personalities. The new director intended to move the baseball program forward with an amiable personal style and behind-the-scenes consensus building. He had some success. Then not.
• In fall 2024, Randy's description of board members and his officers was dframatically different. He called out the biggest challenge  of the board and his officer -  'personal agendas'.  The tables had turned in a very different direction.  
• Personal Agendas are personal grievances and stubborn grudges, or personal priorities, personal inyterest, or the more intense personal power and control interests. 
• Personal Agendas are strong often fixed positions. Personal agendas rarely bend toamiable negotiations. Confrontations and capitulations  are the order of mthings. Someone wins and someone loses, not a friendly situation for an amiable peacemaker or consensus builder.
• Schaub's honeymoon was over. To paraphrase Schaub  in his Winter Update to Coaches - 'I am for opportunities while others on the board are not in favor.He inmplied that the anti-opportunity group had more votes. 
• Schaub's  ideas, proposals, programs or attempts at reform were rejected or rolled back with his vice directors leading the charge. 

It Was The Marriage of Grudge and Personal Power Agendas  That Said Good Bye To All Stars 

The day to day job of maintaining the basic program that ius Legion baseball is akin to the nuts and bolts of the operation. Thise tasks are handled as they should be handled. It is the big picture stuff that fails.

3) Fear and Rejection of Those Deemed Outsiders

The smaller the pond, the bigger the small fish seems.

• Closed people and closed systems cannot allow outsiders. 
• Outsiders come with energy and ideas
• Insiders want things to be the same - or smaller.
• Outsiders build teams and are willing to risk failure for a better future
• Insiders shun new people and maintain cliques

Their Multiple  Stories Tell Of Outsider Fears

All Four Stories have themes and elements of the Get Rid of Outsiders.

• The First story was all about "Those Outsiders and That Outside All-Star Program".  Of course for the preceding five years All-Stars was an established official'inside" program. So to get rid of both the doundersd and the program, the Engstrom authored story pushed the founders and All-Stars into the "Outsider" category claiming contract fraud and claiming injury and foul to the American Legion. Oh hogwash. 
• The Second Caustic Story and Third Secret Story - The Idea That Was a Potential both are laced with Outsiders violating Insiders.
• Engstroms Wild Email went into space with outsiders Mike and Bruce traveling the state of Minnesota stealing players and coaches and emtiore teams before going intro the local Legion posts to rob them of their hard earned dollars to finance a new league to compete with Legion.

Barron's Presentation and Followup Memo Scared the Hell Out Of Them

Barron spoke of an open process that evaluates all activities without sacred cows.

• The Insiders worship sacred cows with certain individuals personally attached to their issue or territory. Such as hotel rooms, short single elim tournaments, a giant 16-team tounrament, playoffs that eliminate 60% of D2 kids before substates, etc.

Barron spoke of all-star success and challenges with interest double the available playing slots. Branding and merchandising and digital success was described

• Success made  anti-opportunity officers and members that were against the projkect (too small, won;t work) just plain wrong. Closed systejs and closed minds can';t be wrong.

Barron addressed challenges arfound the state as coaches shared theior experiences and issues. Growth of club baseball was documented as the competitive level of Legion baseball continues lower

Insiders have lived in denial. And continue to do so. They did not want to hear about it. Closed ears and closed minds.

Barron recommended a Legion coaches association or advisory panel. Bring energy, manpower, ideas to the table. He recommended a trial for a coach driven experiment to boost cpompetition for developing players.

• Oh no! Not Coaches! Coaches are needed on the field and processing registration paperwork. The board tells coaches what to do - not the other way around.

Legion baseball is owned by the Board of Directors. That is what the  Minnesota American Legion has set up. It is a Closed System with Legion officials that some apparently believe you can "fabricate stories" and pass them off to Legionairres. Lying is shameful and sort of against the Legion Code of Conduct.

4) All About Control

The real story - its all about personal power and control. To be in command. The State Legion gives ownership to the Board and certain members covet that conmtrol - to be in command.

Its not about ideas or the playing experience of Legion kids and coaches.

• "I want it my way" dominates. "When I played: My town valiantly fought against the big teams forty years ago" - Was good enpough for me so we dont need change.
• "When I played, we didn't have an all-star program. We don;t need one so get rid of it."

No mission statement. No focus on the kids. My command and my power. So these individuals attack threats. They have to. If you can;t holkd your own in a discussion, you have to avopid or get rid of tnhose that can maintain a discussion. Powser. Control.

But why stay in the background? Why hide yourselves? Why hide in the shadows? 

A Failure of Leadership - All Of Them

Leaders have a responsibility to communicate.

There are more than 5,000 kids, 1,000 coaches and 11,000 parents in Minnesota Legion baseball.

There are jusat three guys that claimed the mantle of "leadership" in their own words to start the Secret Letter Story. Maybe you want to add a couple more names? No m,atter what, it is a tiny, tiny number that claim leadership thus claim control.

Our Allegation: What was displayed in the All Star matter a dereliction of duty. It  was a complete communications blockade.

What We Saw: From what we see from the trail of comments and documents, the top brass hunkered tidown after the October 9 meeting as if to a bomb shelter. They had only their views and imaginatons. The circle drew smaller as many of the other board members were excluded from the inner circle. 

Kids want to go to college and play baseball.  Coaches want to support their players. Parents have dreams, too. Randy and Slick and Brandon and even surrogate Tim obviously believed they faced serious issues. They certainly had some concverns. How do they justify failing to pick up a phone - for forty days and forty nights? You men called yourselves the "Leadership" in the Secret Letter Story. You stayed in your tiny group and made  no effort at all tyo manage a situatipn that should have been a cake walk for an average person.

• There is no excuse. No excuse at all. Kids pay the price. Shame on you.
• The world is built on communication. Isolating was a stupid if not a selfish decision. 
• Isolation breeds hostility for all parties. Isolation breeds imagined slights and sometimes even adult onset paranoia.
•  Communications is the antidote. 

This choices made by "leadership" should cause everyone to question their very fitness to hold positions of leadership or control.

1. In Came Story #1 -The first story was in the Cease and Desist Letter - They Hijacked te Legion Branbd - The Founders are Frauds and the Program is a Fraud. Wishful thinking perhaps. But 100% wrong. We called it phony. We know its just false. One would need to believe in a five-year sleep and Mr. P{abody's way Back machine to be able to retroactively implement the plotline. Hogwash we say.
2. Drop #1 and Bring on Story #2 - The Caustic Charade. The "real" cause was put out there about November 5th. Maybe someone was actually offended by something. Thje specifics were never disclosed. But Director Schaub made "Caustic"to be the real justification for killing a program that benefitted Legion kids.  Good lord. Every adult affected in the "Caustic" story should have gotten over themselves. Kids should not pay the price for adult egos. Randy and Bruce made up by email. The two vice-directors demanded more than an email. They wanted to meet in-person. When in-person was agreed, both vice-directors just plain backed out. Was there an element of truth in this second storyline of hardened personal feelings? 
3. New Secret Story #3 -  Bigger and Convoluted - While talks about caustic and medning fences went on, another story was cooked uTwo weeks after Story #1 killed All-Stars, the "leaders" dropped both original in favor an all new story that revolved around "zip code teams" and Legion post money. The target audience: all post commanders and adjutants of Minnesota's 531 Legion posts. Its obvious to us that the Secret Story was created out of fear that the already defunct All-Star program or some other program would continue as an independent operation. While such fears seem like paranoid thinking, the Leadership feared the All-Star guys might go to Legion posts to get sponsorship funding. Oh No!  Now this Secret Story claims that the material described all happened before ALl-Stars was killed (we know that was November 1st) and that this was the actual cause fior their actions of November 1st. Wow, if this convioluted story was known or conjured up before  November 1st, it would most certainly have been the basis for the Cease and Desist order. rolled around. If "zip codes" were the cause, then why not lead with it from Day One? Oh. Because the story did not exist when all-stars was killed. Blaming zip codes as a cause was a phony. So the story had the baseball board to all sorts of action to diligently discuss and review zip code teams, the idea that Randy Schaub wanted in proposal form. Whether it was an idea or a concept,  athe Secret Story somehow became a proposal that the board of directors took action and rejected the zip cide proposal at a formal board meeting. The board had been busy bees for sure! It must have been time consuming work. A look in the meeting minues found nothing, not one word, to verify the Secret Letter claims. Thye Leadership felt that an "Idea" that was a "Potential" was "promotedf (how, to whom, with what) so they killed all-stars. And if the founders show up at your Legion post, kick them out and don't give them any money.

Decision Time - Party of Four: Randy's Board Democracy Morphed into Autocracy

 According to the Secret Letter, the greater baseball board did not make the decisions and did not take the actions and to so agressively end all stars.

The "Leadership" did it. They took the lead and took charge after board meetings were concluded. That's what they said in the Secret Letter.

The Leadership: Randy Schaub. Jeff "Slick" Miller. Brandon Raymo. Plus Tim Engstrom Secretary. We may as well include him.

Roving Stories  Party of Four

How did "leadership" explain or justify their actions? 

It should have taken a sentence or two or a few paragraphs. 

One would think that the truth would be a simple storyline that needed a one-time telling.

No! They have never told the truth apparently. The truth may just be uncomfortable.

The stories that presented were just wildly fictional. 

Each story differed. 

Stories had internal contradictions. Stories conflicted with other stories.

Timnelines appeared to be false. 

Three of the stories were delivered by their own documents.

We were and remained stunned by what shiould appear as an almost juvenile attempt to create different explanations and bigger and wilder allegations and stories that we just know are not groumnded in any reality that we have conjure up.

Our focus was to do our job. 

• You knew our names. None  of us hid behind a committee or some surrogate or created some smoke screen or put out multiple cover stories to mask what we did.
• We operated with integrity and honesty and encourage those around us to maintain the highest ethical standards.
• We treated others with respect and expected respect from others. 
• What you see is what you get.
• We didn't play mysterious games and we don't tell fictional stories.

All-Stars Was About Team Building

It takes a village to raise a kid.

It takes a Legion baseball village to develop opportunities or programs. 

To be successful we would need great people to come forward and share in the project. New people bring new ideas. They bring new energy. They bring more new people. 

• We share information and opinions and invite others to do the same. We listen.
• We build teams of motivated people and invite them to contribute with energy and passion.
• We seek leaders today and future leaders to replace us.  We built success together.

We Delivered On Every Commitment

We said we would develop a first-class all-star program for Minnesota American Legion baseball. 

We said we would build the infrastructure and find the people to make it happen.

• We delivered.

We said we would learn and adjust. We said we would communicate openmly to Director and the baseball board. 

• We delivered as we promised. 

We promised to maintain the highest ethical standards. We promised to listen to coaches and parents and others we grew our All-Star team. We sought to meet growing demands to better support Minnesota Legion baseball players asnd coaches. 

• We delivered as we promised - all of us.

We put in major time and effort. We built extensive technical systems. We built communications. We are storing thousands of dollars in uniforms, equipment, and mechandise (all-star wear). 

• We took on a job and we delivered.

Randy Requested A Proposal And We Built It

The state director liked our ideas. He wanted a proposal for a zip code trial. He always liked our ideas. He was for opportiunities and development and growth. Well, he was months and years before. 

• We took on the job to build a turn-key pilot program - a beta test.
• We developed the team base required for the proposal and capped that effort on October 18th. 
• We sent an email out that shared "an idea that was a potential" as a typical matter of information sharing. An  FYI communication.
• We committed to building a proposal for Randy and we delivered - well we mothballed it.

We Communicated Openly

We don't play Secret Santa. 

We never hid in the shadows behind a wall of silence or behind surrogates or third parties.

We do not hide behind names like "The Board" or "The Leadership". 

We have names and take responsibility for what we say and do.

We are willing to share information and viewpoints and we are willing to enagage in good old adult give-and take.

We welcome change and growth.

We were slow to anger but eventually expressed it. An apology followed.

We committed to openness and we delivered.

We Have Just One Story and Recognize One Reality

 Sherlock further concl;uded: "The Minnesota American  Legion has installed and fauled to supervise the Closed System that is the arrangement with the Baseball Board of Directors."come to dominate the Closed System that is a core issue  

The baseball board has had its issues for many years. In the last year, the board has evolved into what seems more of a regime or tiny dictatorship driven by the personalities and agendas of a very few people - the guys that refer to themselves as 'leadership".

Our own Mike Perry spent ten years as a board member and seven as the state director. He confesses today that he knows now that he was part of the problem. If one learned anything over the last months, one learned that the Legion Board and its "leadership" officers, have proved themselves to be a text book example of the Closed System best defined by David Lee Jones:

• Leaders tend to dominate or over-function, which causes others members of the system to acquiesce or under-function.  
• A few at the top are disproportionately responsible for the many. 
• Such systems often have people who function as dictators or peace-mongers at the top, and may have unduly rigid boundaries.
•  Closed systems breed fear, anger, repression, paranoia and suspicion. 
• They tend to acquiesce to the least mature members or those who hold the most power (who are often the most immature). 
• Closed systems are marked by incessant blaming of others and usually seek a quick fix to conflict rather than managing anxiety maturely. 

What Did We Already See? - Its More Than All-Stars.

Ethics and Integrity In The American Legion

 The American Legion's Code of Conduct emphasizes honesty, integrity, dignity, respect, and responsibility, both inside and outside of the Legion. Members are expected to represent the organization well, and their behavior reflects upon the Legion family at all levels. 

Key aspects of the Code of Conduct include:

• Honesty and Integrity:  Members are expected to act with honesty and integrity in all their dealings. 
• Respect and Dignity: Treating all members and others with respect and dignity is paramount. 
• Responsibility: Members are accountable for their actions, both individually and as representatives of the Legion. 
• Adherence to Rules: Members are expected to adhere to the rules and regulations of the organization. 
• Positive Representation: Members are ambassadors of the Legion and should conduct themselves in a way that reflects positively on the organization.