Team hobbled by money woes, lack of home.

QUAKERTOWN -- It's never a good sign in professional baseball when the players on the team outnumber the fans in the seats.

That's what happened last week when the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds of the independent Atlantic League returned to its temporary home field, Quakertown's Memorial Park Stadium, after almost a month on the road.

While the league listed its paid attendance at 50, only about two-dozen people filled the bleachers -- and that included a couple of sportswriters covering the game. At least as many people could be found in the park next door playing basketball and tennis, feeding ducks and pushing kids in strollers.

The Black Diamonds, whose owners filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, are playing in Upper Bucks County this season because they don't have a stadium to call their own.

The original plan for the team -- which is scheduled to be auctioned off to the highest bidder next month -- was to play in what was supposed to be the new Lehigh Valley Stadium in Williams, Northampton County.

Funding problems stalled construction of that facility, causing the Black Diamonds to spend 1998 playing their home games in Newburgh, …