Lance Robert Blankenship (born December 6, 1963) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

. Blankenship played his entire career with the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

(1988–1993) after the A's drafted him in the 10th round of the 1986 MLB amateur draft. He made his Major League Baseball debut on September 4, 1988, and played his final game on August 15, 1993. His career concluded with a regular season .222

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, nine

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 92

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, and 54

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

. Blankenship played for the Athletics in two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. He was a member of the A's team that swept the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in the

1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...

and the A's team that lost to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

in the

1990 World Series The 1990 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1990 season. The 87th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending champions and heavily favored American League (AL) ...

. In five postseason series, Blankenship tallied a career postseason .250 batting average with four runs scored and two stolen bases. Blankenship's playing career was derailed by a

rotator cuff The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles are the supraspi ...

injury which prevented his return to the Major Leagues. In 1995, he bought a tropical fish and aquarium store in

San Ramon, California San Ramon (Spanish: ''San Ramón'', meaning "St. Raymond") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and east of San Francisco. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per the 2020 census, maki ...

and, by 1998, he was managing it full-time.

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1963 births Living people Baseball players from Portland, Oregon Medford A's players Modesto A's players Huntsville Stars players Tacoma Tigers players Oakland Athletics players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball outfielders California Golden Bears baseball players Sonoma County Crushers players {{US-baseball-second-baseman-stub