Life is all uphill for the Slippery Rock Sliders, a professional baseball team whose first season may be its last.

The Sliders are understaffed, underfunded and underdogs every time they take the field. Picture Hollywood's version of the Durham Bulls, strip away any glamour, and you've got the Slippery Rock team.

Manager Greg Jelks must split his time between developing the 21 rookies on his ball club and serving as its travel agent. He books the motels and plans the bus routes for the Sliders' seemingly endless road trips to the suburbs of St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati.

"This is like going back in time. We have to run it the way baseball teams did in the 1920s and '30s," said Mr. Jelks, who had a long career in the minors and played briefly for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1987.

General Manager Steve Tahsler is the only employee in the Sliders' front office on the campus of Slippery Rock University. His staff consists of college interns.

The Sliders were a last-minute creation to fill a hole in the Frontier League's lineup. The 11-team independent league had hoped to add a franchise in Columbia, Mo., for this season. When that deal fell through, the league needed a 12th member to avoid chaos in scheduling.

Slippery Rock, with no corporate base and only about 9,000 people in its environs, was hardly an ideal market for a minor-league team. But it had one asset the Frontier League needed -- a spacious university ballpark that was available in summertime.

So the league owners pooled some money and placed a team in Slippery Rock. Their experiment, though, may be short-lived.

The same businessmen who created the franchise are likely to move it after the Sliders' season ends this month.

"It's not a long-term market for us," said league Commissioner Bill Lee. "We saw the potential for one year or maybe a couple of years, but it doesn't have the business base or the population base."

At least a half-dozen cities in the Midwest and East are jockeying to take the team from Slippery Rock.

The Sliders have a league-worst record of 15 wins and 50 losses as of Friday. They have hired, fired and traded 48 players this season, effectively revamping their 24-man roster twice.

Financial rewards for those in the Frontier League are low. Each club has a $60,000 salary cap. The minimum monthly salary is $600; the maximum $1,200.

Low wages do not bother catcher Bryan Vickers, 24. The emergence of the Slippery Rock club allowed him to postpone the inevitable.

"For me, it's either getting a real job or playing baseball for a little bit of money," he said.

Mr. Vickers played last season for the Frontier League team in Rockford, Ill. Slippery Rock claimed him in the expansion draft, keeping him out of the 9-to-5 world for another season.

Most other players have higher aspirations. They are trying to attract the attention of big-league scouts.

"All of us are hoping, possibly, to make it," said Kory Bucklew, 24, a left-handed pitcher with the Sliders.

Fourteen Frontier League players have gone on to play in the major leagues. Their success makes all dreams seem possible.

One of the alumni, Josh Kinney, was with the world champion St. Louis Cardinals last season. He pitched three games with the River City Rascals of the Frontier League before the Cardinals signed him to one of their minor-league teams in 2001.

Mr. Jelks said at least three of his Sliders have the potential to play at a higher level in the minors. He hopes to place them in a winter league in Australia, where he lives most of the year.

His other ambition is to return to America next summer to manage the Sliders, whether they are in Slippery Rock or somewhere else. Like the players, Mr. Jelks, 46, said he has something to prove.

He managed the Evansville, Ind., team to three playoff appearances and a Frontier League championship in 2006. Buoyed by his success, he asked for a raise. Evansville management fired him instead, he said.

Mr. Jelks landed in Slippery Rock, the most disadvantaged club in a shoestring league.

Because the team was abruptly placed in the league's smallest market, it received a backbreaking schedule. Sixty-four of the Sliders' 96 games are on the road. Every other team plays at least half its games at home.

At Jack Critchfield Park on the campus of Slippery Rock University, the Sliders have averaged about 660 fans per game, Mr. Tahsler said.

No more than 250 were in the stands for a game last week against the Windy City Thunderbolts, one of the league's better teams. The Sliders hit well, but sloppy fielding and base running cost them in a 13-7 loss.

Mr. Jelks said the lack of time to work with players has frustrated him more than losing. He had four coaches on his staff in Evansville. He has just one assistant, a pitching coach, in Slippery Rock.

Mr. Tahsler, 33, also worked previously for the Evansville team, where attendance averaged 2,800 and each home game was televised.

He said the appeal of running the team in Slippery Rock was its unique arrangement with the university. Many professional sports teams have shared stadiums with colleges. But none fully integrated students into the organization until the Sliders came along, he said.

Kim Coleman, a Slippery Rock University student majoring in physical therapy, has spent the summer commuting 31/2 hours between campus and her home in Bloomsburg, Columbia County. She said she has enjoyed working with the Sliders to improve their flexibility and strength.

"All of them are nice and down to earth," Ms. Coleman said.

Another Slippery Rock student, Nate Geisler, failed to land an internship with the team. But the Sliders hired him as their mascot. He patrols the field dressed as a giant baseball, signing autographs and leading cheers.

Robert Smith, president of Slippery Rock University, said he considered the partnership between his school and the team a success.

"I find it fan-friendly and family-oriented," Dr. Smith said. "It's sort of refreshing. They're doing all the right things except winning."

Dr. Smith said he knows there may not be a second season in Slippery Rock for the Sliders.

"We have not had a hard conversation about that with the league, but I'm a realist," he said. "I know if a ballpark and an ownership group are available somewhere, they won't be back."

Still, Dr. Smith said, the Sliders offered a pleasant diversion for many and an opportunity for a few others.

Mr. Bucklew, the pitcher for the Sliders, feels the same way. He is studying for his master's degree in business administration at DePaul University, but he preferred a season in Slippery Rock to a session of summer classes.

"I've got the rest of my life to make money. Baseball is what I love," he said.

First Published: August 5, 2007, 2:15 a.m.