Garko begins his first season with the Ducks and ninth in professional baseball. He spent parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, and Texas Rangers and is a career .275 hitter over 463 big league contests with 55 home runs, 250 RBI, 75 doubles, and a .434 slugging percentage. His best season came with the Indians in 2007 when he hit .289 with 21 homers, 61 RBI, 29 doubles and 140 hits in 138 games.Most recently, the 31-year-old spent part of the 2011 season with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization. He began his career as a catcher with Stanford University, where he earned the Johnny Bench Award as the nation’s Top College Catcher and was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2003. The Pittsburgh native was converted to a first baseman while with the Indians organization, where he was also a two-time All-Star. Garko was originally drafted by the Indians in the third round of the 2003 amateur draft.