Gadgets -- Motorola Sportstrax

Motorola SportsTrax Motorola Pan American Subscriber Paging Division (800) 621-0530 $199 for a three-season subscription

Like many high-tech businesses, wireless communications is an excellent technology looking for more useful applications.

The newest is deeply interesting, but only for baseball nuts. Motorola's SportsTrax is a pager-size device that displays a set of information for every Major League Baseball game being played that day.

The 1.25-by-1.25-inch liquid crystal display monitor shows team names, the inning, the score, the number of outs and which team is currently up. The "diamond" also shows which bases are occupied with base runners. For finished games, the screen displays scores and, for games not yet started, the starting time.

You won't be entertained just watching a game this way. But the device has a set of different beeps and tones that inform you when the team at bat gets a runner into scoring position or scores a run or hits a homer or finishes an inning. With this feature, you could keep the device clipped to your belt and just consult it when it "beeps" you.

Most fans will find SportsTrax's information too limited to be of interest. Rotisserie or Fantasy baseball freaks will feel the absence of individual player stats or accomplishments a limiting factor. People who bet on games will find it very useful. But it's best for fans who just want to feel as if they're in touch with the entire schedule - the kind of folk who watch ESPN every night to catch all the day's action.

I think SportsTrax is a fine first effort at combining wireless technology and Major League Baseball, and it should capture (and fulfill) the attention of the people who want things that are "cool." The third version will appeal to me more, I suspect. At $199 for a pager that will provide this data through the 1998 season, it's an inexpensive way for the most obsessive fans to stay in touch without having to be glued to a TV.