Baseball Profiles: Lance Bland worked with minors players, later with horses

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Lance Bland worked with minors players, later with horses

Lance Bland 1990 San Bernardino Spirit card

San Bernardino Spirit trainer Lance Bland didn't think the team's catcher should play this night, due to an sprain from the previous game, but manager Keith Bodie thought he could find a spot for him, The San Bernardino County Sun wrote.

That spot led to an 11th-inning game-winning single, The Sun wrote.

"He was feeling better before the game," Bodie told The Sun of the catcher. "I talked to Lance before the game and said he would pinch hit for us but not catch."

Bland made his assessment in his first season as a pro trainer. It also turned out to be his only season. He instead appears to have gone on to a career working with horses, as a farrier.

Bland joined San Bernardino out of Southwest Texas State University, where he'd just graduated with a degree in sports medicine.

With the Spirit that April, Bland assessed another player who heard a pop, diagnosing a "giant muscle spasm, The Sun wrote. That July, he responded to the catcher again, who came up limping. The catcher ultimately went to the hospital for examination.

Bland had been set to return to San Bernardino for 1991, but he decided shortly before the season began not to return, The Sun wrote.

By 1999, Bland appears to have been back in Texas, working with horses, as a farrier, according to his LinkedIn profile. His profile notes his graduation from Southwest Texas State in 1988 with a degree in athletic training.

On the Dallas-based RBRiding page, Bland is listed in 2024 among their support crew.

"Lance is our farrier extraordinaire," the page reads. "Thanks to his help our horses have stayed sound and are able to perform at the highest levels."