Root, root, root for mlb.com

Loyal Safe & Sound blog readers might remember the angry post I published after I couldn’t vote for my favorite players to go to the All-Star Game in 2008.

You make your vote, then you have to enter the distorted characters you see into a form. Then, and only then, can you complete the transaction. But if you’re blind, you can’t see a dang thing in that box.

Well, I guess Major League Baseball subscribes to my blog! This month they sent out a press release announcing big changes to their site.

MLB.com has ensured that fans with visual impairments can participate in the annual online voting programs associated with the All-Star Game and will be providing an accessibility page on its site detailing information on accessibility, usability tips and customer service resources.

MLB.com utilized guidelines issued by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The web content accessibility guidelines are of particular benefit to blind baseball fans who use a screen reader, through which information on a page is read aloud, or magnification technology on their computers and who rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse.

The updates were made not only to MLB.com, but to all 30 individual Club sites. The press release says this is all the result of a joint collaboration between MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the American Council of the Blind, Bay State Council of the Blind and California Council of the Blind. But we all know it’s the result of my kvetching when I couldn’t vote for Jermaine Dye back in 2008.

Now that I’ll finally be able to vote, I sure hope there’s a White Sox player in the running. Can’t wait for baseball to start up again this weekend. Hanni and I are looking forward to a season full of…you guessed it…Seeing Eye singles.