This Fourth of July won't seem the same in Wymore, a town of about 1,500 located 50 miles south of Lincoln.

Baseball and fireworks, that's how it's always been. But Wymore is without an American Legion baseball program for the first time in 60 years, which means a quiet holiday at Arbor State Park.

Without baseball, a lot has been different this summer. No friends meeting at the ballpark. No folks driving through town, noticing the lights at the ballpark, and stopping to watch a few innings. No sign downtown as a reminder there was a game.

A baseball team helps give towns like Wymore an identity in the summer, and closes the gap between generations.

Wymore isn't alone, as the American Legion baseball landscape keeps changing as towns can't field a team or opt to combine with nearby teams.

Gothenburg only had a handful of interested players and couldn't field a team. Grand Island, with 45,000 residents and three high schools, has one senior team instead of two for the first time in 25 years. Wood River is without a team.

In Wymore, JD Faxon was set to play his fourth year of legion baseball until the season was cancelled. Instead, Faxon was able to get on a Beatrice team and will play in the 20-team Mike Peterson Tournament in Lincoln this weekend.

It won't be the same as playing in Wymore on the Fourth, when a full day of baseball would be followed by a huge crowd watching fireworks.

"I'll miss that," Faxon said. "I liked playing in the games and watching the fireworks afterward … that was kind of cool, hanging with your friends.

"Not having a legion team is a pretty big deal, I think. There's been baseball there forever. My uncles played there, my coaches were brothers, and the whole town was part of it."

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It was sign-up time for baseball this spring in Wymore, and the returns weren't promising: three players wanted to play on the senior team, and six on the junior team.

Officials held out hope more players would chose to play before notifying the state office in late April that Wymore wouldn't have a team and host the area tournament as planned.

Baseball was big in Wymore, and it was also big business. It was just a few years ago that both teams made the state tournament. Tickets sales between regular-season games, the Fourth of July tournament and the postseason brought in thousands of dollars each year. There were many years when Wymore hosted area and state tournaments.

Many people have a memory from the Fourth of July tournament, including the times Wymore won and the years it should have. Memories of when players and fans from places like Fairbury and Hebron and Wilber would stay after the games for the fireworks. One year, the championship game lasted 13 innings, and the fireworks didn't begin until nearly midnight.

"Not having a team was a real disappointment," said Chuck Shores, a retired teacher who has helped organize American Legion baseball in Wymore since 2002.

"For me and the legion members, it's a big thing missing. I was talking to some of the guys, and summer has been really dead for us. We had legion guys at the gate, concession stand, in the announcer booth."

Not having enough players to field at least one team occurred suddenly for Wymore, which often got players from a handful of surrounding communities.

It also hurt that some players who were old enough to play on the junior legion team chose to stay in a league for younger players that play on a smaller field with fewer games.

"Those guys waiting for next year might have cost us from having at least one team this year," said Shores, who hopes Wymore will be able to have at least one team again next year.

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Challenges arose for the Aurora Senior Legion team even before the season began, when three teams Aurora was scheduled to play folded and meant Aurora would have six fewer games. Grand Island and Hastings each had one team instead of two, and Gothenburg didn't have a team.

This year, there are 146 senior teams and 158 junior teams in Nebraska in three classifications, down at least 20 teams combined from last season, according to American Legion Activities Director Dan Poulsen.

"I know when I played, baseball was it, that's what you did in the summer," said Poulsen, who played for Lincoln Northeast. "I don't know if kids have more going on, or kids aren't really caring as much about it."

Aurora has been able to keep participation mostly steady, but there are still challenges.

"A lot of it has to do with just the demands put on the players in the summer from their high school coaches with football camps and summer league basketball," Aurora coach Jeff Happold said. "They have to cut something out, and it seems to be baseball that gets cut out. It's kind of sad."

In Grand Island, the number of players at the senior level has slowly dwindled.

Grand Island Home Federal has a policy that players can't miss games or practice for other sport activities, but are allowed to participate when baseball is not a conflict.

Home Federal coach Tino Martinez believes there are several reasons participation is down, including obligations in other sports.

"The other thing is kids maybe don't want to put the time in that it takes to be a part of the summer program," said Martinez, whose team will play about 45 games. "They have a spring season, and maybe that satisfied their baseball needs."

Faxon is the only player from his graduating class at Diller-Odell High School still playing baseball. He's watched as some guys he used to play with quit playing baseball.

"I guess a lot of kids don't want to move up and play all these games in the summer," Faxon said. "After 'A' ball they say, 'I might as well work or have some fun in the summer.' They just don't want to play that many games."

Reach Brent C. Wagner at 473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com.