Where's Roy Hobbs when you need him? Maybe that mythical baseball player in Robert Redford's film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's novel The Natural could help create a CD sports title that meets the potential of CD-ROM. So far, no one has.

But don't touch that dial. A few industry heavy hitters are bucking for extra bases, and several others are making the move to the majors.

You can't blame developers for moving slowly to CDs. They have good reason: too few customers. Sports titles comprises than 10% of software purchases by home-computer owners, according to one software-company survey. And these buyers don't fit the typical multimedia-user profile: They are college age or younger, have less money, and use older, slower computers.

There are some very good floppy-based sports titles, but none with the depth a CD can offer. That's why sports-tide developers are going all out to license material and create high-quality products on disc, much of it due out this fall. Some are line-drives; others are; well, errors.

The Complete Package

In the omnibus world of sports almanacs, you'll be happy with just one title: the dual-platform Sports Illustrated 1994 Multimedia Sports Almanac. This best-buy disc reviews the past 12 months in depth and includes an entire year of the magazine, minus the swimsuit issue. (SI failed to get electronic rights to the models' photos.) There are excellent year-in-review video segments, the complete 1,200-page SI 1994 Sports Almanac, more than 450 color photos, and tons of statistics.

The CD is easy to navigate, with clever, animated icons and fast searching. Created by StarPress, the company that brought you Wordstar, it's a quantum leap forward from last year's version, from Time Warner Interactive.

One thing the SI almanac does not do is cover a single sport in depth. That's where a handful of individual sports almanacs come into play. Topping the list in the stats-to-the-max department: baseball.

Microsoft's Complete Baseball released for Windows in June, is what you'd expect from the software behemoth: It's filled with 7,000 images, nearly 100 audio clips, 15 minutes of video, articles, statistics from Total Baseball, and this year's complete schedule. With a humorous poke at its target audience, a Microsoft executive says, "If you belong to the baseball dweeb subculture, you can copy and paste all these data into Excel and impress your friends to no end."

Interestingly, Complete Baseball offers daily online downloads for $1.25, with box scores, player stats, and team standings -- sure to garner a loyal following from rotisserie leaguers.

The grandfather of baseball-statistics almanacs -- but a newcomer to CD-ROM -- is Miller Associates' Bill James Electronic Baseball Encyclopedia. An update of the respected print product, it features stats on every player since 1876, and a powerful search engine that lets you use some 400 performance criteria. Bill James doesn't have the pizzazz of Complete Baseball, but it has the substance.

In the also-ran department is Total Baseball 1993 Edition: 1871-1982 from Creative Multimedia. This revision of the first CD sports almanac includes all 2,300 pages of the 15-lb. book. It adds 600 photos of players, team; and ball-parks as well as 20 audio clips of famous moments in baseball. But Total Baseball offers no analysis beyond a ranking system, and its search engine is rudimentary. (A 1994 upgrade promises major improvements.) If you're just looking for the text of Total Baseball, turn to Microsoft's Complete Baseball.

Voyager's audio-filled Baseball's Greatest Hits, a four-year-old, black-and-white compendium of historic events, shows its age and lacks depth and versatility. Voyager is working on a full-color update, with more material, a better interface, and possibly MPEG video.

Compton's New Media is promising a Sporting News Pro Baseball Guide. If it's similar to the company's Football Guide, it will be adequate but nothing to get excited about. Again, stick with Microsoft. Finally, Byron Preiss Multimedia is working on How Baseball Works, a dual-platform exploration of America's national pastime, using information from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Look for it this fall.

Beyond baseball-land lies a sports-almanac dust bowl. There are only two pro-football titles, one pending basketball project, and three soon-to-be-released NCAA sports products. None are particularly compelling.

Compton's 1993 Sporting News Pro Football Guide is an all-too-simple title, with a little of everything but not much of anything. It covers 1992 using brief articles and short video clips for each of the 17 weeks and the playoff games Stats are minimal and cover only players active since 1980.

Team NFL: The Official Magazine of the National Football League, 1993 Preview, from Optimum Resources, is barely worth breaking out of the jewel case. It's slow, hard to install, and has stats and info for 1992 only. The Mac disc includes some articles, photos, and videos, but the pictures have no captions or index. Buy a book.

On the horizon, a glimmer of hope. Compton's, which sees a field of dreams in sports titles, plans a Sporting News Pro Basketball Guide late this summer. The company is negotiating for exclusive rights to NBA properties, but, as always, the execution will make or break this product.

Meanwhile, Software Toolworks is working on college titles that cover football and basketball as well as an NCAA sports-video almanac. Expect coverage of college basketball's Final Four, games, and video bloopers.

Batter Up

Sports almanacs are great for fans, but sometimes you want to get into the action. Fortunately, new sports CDs offer game-play coupled with statistical depth. Once again, baseball is out in front.

The clear leader in the CD simulation/arcade genre Baseball II from Strategic Simulations. "Fanatics created the game for fanatics," says associate producer Jason Ray.

Part arcade game, part fantasy league, LaRussa is filled with nuances. I like listening to the cries of the hot-dog vendor as he walks down the aisle or to the play-by-play announcer. Legendary players' photos appear as they bat or pitch. In simulated play, the game uses a fair amount of stats, including each batter's percentage of fly balls versus grounders.

However, for joystick junkies, Accolade's floppy-based Hardball IV is better. LaRussa's field layout is out of proportion, which leads to too many doubles. And the game has only nonactive players in its database. (It costs much more to license active players.)

If you want a CD simulation that revels in statistics, Miller's APBA Presents Baseball for Windows is your baby. The beautifully rendered disc is a sublime number muncher. There is no action, but the running audio commentary is like listening to a live radio play-by-play. The statistical analyses will make any micro-manager salivate. One program optimizes your lineup, another calculates estimated runs, while another creates 2,000 additional statistical reports. Overkill? Not for those who live and breathe this stuff.

Up-and-comers in the baseball simulation department are Sony's ESPN Baseball Tonight and dynamix/ Sierra On-Line's Front Page Sports: Baseball. ESPN Baseball is an arcade game that has the look and feel of a multicamera TV broadcast. It reproduces major-league players' statistical profiles, but doesn't use their names -- Sony also found it too expensive.

A better bet is FPS: Baseball which should give LaRussa a run for the money. After all, the same Dynamix creatives put out its top-ranking football title (see below). It will have more players, stats, and stadiums than LaRussa, plus more realistic action and sharper graphics. The floppy version should be out this summer, and the more comprehensive CD will be released next year.

Pigskin Playback

If you're a gridiron junkie, you've probably given up looking for CD simulations. But brace yourself for an autumn avalanche; three or four titles are in the works, with Dynamix/Sierra's Front Page Sports: Football leading the pack. Even a Dynamix competitor refers to FPS: Football as "the 800-lb, gorilla of PC simulations." This game has a devoted following, having sold more than 200,000 copies in two floppy-based incarnations.

The CD should have the same statistical depth and analysis, fluid graphics, 2,000 stock plays, and customizability. You'll be able to create your own coaching profile, test it against others, and join the Front Page fanatics on CompuServe as you draft and trade.

Meanwhile, Accolade is deep into production of a strategy-oriented football disc, All-Pro Video Football (see sidebar). And Sony is producing ESPN Sunday Night NFL, which, like its planned baseball counterpart, re-creates a televised game with you in control. For its part, MicroProse plans to release a DOS CD version of its Ultimate NFL Coaches Club Football floppy in August.

Links and Leg-lift

There are few other sports simulations, but desktop golf has its own forerunner in Access Software's Links floppy products.

Scheduled for early '95 release is Access' first CD version of Links, called Links 486 CO. The disc will offer visits to the clubhouse and pro shop, at least three new courses from an "exotic tropical island," and fly-over videos.

Access is also the mastermind behind Microsoft Golf Multimedia, which is the best CD-ROM golf simulation you can get thus far.

More a reference guide than a simulation, the DOS-based Compton's Multimedia Golf Guide: California/Hawaii lets you preview some 750 courses and compare layouts, locations, and slope ratings. However, it's less functional than the book it's based on. The course photos are grainy, and the audio clips superfluous. Fortunately, Compton's is coming out with a revamped U.S. Golf Guide.

Other golf titles for your collection: The Great Golf CD, from Eden Interactive, and LaserSoft's Links Collector's CD, a floppy port that lets you play four well-known courses.

On a speedier note, the top two auto-racing products, Papyrus' IndyCar Racing and MicroProse's World Circuit, have been adequate on floppy, though MicroProse released a DOS CD version of World Circuit in February.

Two CD-only driving simulations are on the market. Neither offers the quality racing experience available from IndyCar and World Circuit, but each has unique characteristics that may appeal to enthusiasts.

Revell-Monogram's Backroad Racers and European Racers come with a souped-up Ford Mustang and a Porsche 911 kit, respectively. Both have detailed video clips and slick 3-D animation that explain clearly how to build the models. You'll encounter some less-than portsmanlike racing opponents and head off to one of several racetracks. Expect to get harassed by cops and wise-guy mechanics. It's a nice package, but don't buy it solely for the racing simulation.

Software Toolworks' MegaRace is not for the faint-hearted. It's a post-apocalyptic, combat-driving game where beating the clock is not the object; blasting your opponents to oblivion is. It's a wild ride, but, once again, the driving simulation is far from state-of-the-art.

Where the Action Is

`If you're into off-the-beaten-track athletics, you'll have more luck with some entries from niche publishers, although the quality can be iffy. For instance, Sport's Best from InterActive Publishing is not worth the plastic it's etched on. It includes low-res, low-brow tennis, kick-boxing, and paragliding simulations.

More cohesive is Software Toolworks' Maniac Sports, a compendium of thrilling demos. With in your-face graphics, grunge music, and "surfer dude" narration, Maniac Sports takes you bungee jumping, sky diving, extreme skiing, and on other fringe sports odysseys.

In addition, Portland, Ore.'s Media Mosaic is developing a fine of Mac- and PC-compatible how-to discs on such topics as kayaking and mountain biking, which will appeal to rugged out-doorsy types. Look for it this Christmas.

Bike freaks should enjoy Eden Interactive's Greg LeMond's Bicycle Adventure, a Mac and Windows CD that takes a thorough look at biking. Topics include racing, touring, mountain bikes, environmental impact, people, and equipment.

Tired of workout videos? Try Computer Directions' Fitness Partner, which has nine daily workouts. Videos walk you through exercises, and periodically offer encouragement. Weary of your routine? Simply edit the number of reps, speed, or even the music to suit your needs. This is a clever use of CD-ROM technology.

On the other hand, Xiphias' Kathy Smith's Fat Burning System is a non-interactive compilation of Smith's videos, books, and cassettes; and Johnson Books' The Outdoor Athlete is essentially an electronic page-by-page of the book. You won't find much added value in either product.

In the how-to department, Intellimedia has a line of products for desktop and 3DO systems. Produced with ESPN, they are tutorial Cds for baseball, football, golf, tennis, and soccer.

On the obscure side, you'll find two CD sports calendars: Johnson Books' Under the Sun: Digital Days Calendar, a simple diary with outdoor-sports video clips; and Media Vision's personal manager, PlanIt Adrenaline, which incorporates stills and videos from "extreme video" master Warren Miller. PlanIt is clever but consumes a ridiculous amount of hard drive space: 32MB.

A new general entry comes from Moon Valley Software of San Luis Obispo, Calif. Its ESPN Sports Shorts, a Windows CD, includes live-action sports clips, sound effects, screen savers, slideshows, and other "diversions" for the sports-obsessed. And for your presentation needs, Educorp offers Sports-ROM ($29.95, 800-843-9497) a clip-art collection of 162 sports images.

This array of discs should keep your blood pumping, but remember: it's summertime. Get out on the field, water, mountain, whatever, and do your thing live, too.

RELATED ARTICLE: ACCOLADE MITS THE FIELD

Accolade used to be big on sports but blase about CD-ROM. No longer. The San Jose company, known for such sports-related floppy products as Games with Personality, is searching for original simulations that show off the strengths of desktop multimedia.

Accolade thinks it's found at least one, courtesy of Oregon's Blank, Berlyn and Co., which had an idea for an interactive audio-only play-by-play football simulation. Accolade liked the concept but added the video component.

"It'll be a new kind of gaming experience," promises All-Pro Video Football producer Todd Thorson. "Armchair quarterbacks can feel what it's like to make the coaching decisions."

You pick an offensive play based on the down, yardage needed, time left, or score. The opponent -- computer or human -- selects a defense, and play begins. You see four camera angles, and your decisions generate one of several thousand possible outcomes. A typical game lasts an hour.

Live-action programming has its costs. In January, Accolade hired 40 professional football players, five coaches, several referees, and multiple-camera crews, cranes, and dollies for five days of shooting in Florida. "This was our biggest worry," says Thorson. "We're a software company, not a video-production house. But it went very smoothly."

Getting seamless video playback on slow-poke CD-ROM drives is no mean feat, and Accolade's advances may surprise you. "We're able to run the plays at quarter-screen size and at near-TV frame rates," says Thorson.

To spark greater interest, All-Pro uses NFL teams and player likenesses in a Pro Bowl-like setting. Al Michaels provides the play-by,play, while Pat Haden does the color commentary.

But the question remains: Will stats-happy sports fans be content to simply input plays and defenses without much further control over the outcome? After two years in production, you can decide for yourself when All-ProVideo Football hits store shelves in September on the Mac and Windows platforms. Price: $69.95 (playbook included). Although the CD will run on a 386SX/25, Accolade recommends you use a 486DX/33 with 8MB RAM. If it reaches a wide audience, you might soon see a baseball version of All-Pro. For more information, call (408) 985-1700.