Garko goes from unwanted to the nation's best catcher Garko goes from unwanted to the nation's best catcher (June 27, 2003)

Cardinal senior puts the finishing touches on outstanding career by winning the annual Johnny Bench Award

by Rick Eymer

Stanford senior catcher Ryan Garko may have felt unwanted by professional baseball last year at this time but these days it seems there are no limits for him.

Garko's sensational season ended on the field on Monday but winning the fourth annual Johnny Bench Award, which goes to the nation's finest collegiate catcher, put an exclamation point on one of the most outstanding single seasons ever recorded by an individual at Stanford.

"The last half of this season has been the culmination of four years of hard work," said Garko. "I've gotten a lot better. I'm the best hitter I've ever been in my life."

Garko, who reached the semifinal round last year, is the first-ever winner from Stanford. Johnny Bench presented the award to Garko on Tuesday night at the Greater Wichita Sports Banquet in Wichita, Kan.

"As a catcher, it's really an honor to receive an award with Johnny Bench's name on it," said Garko. "I would like to thank The Greater Wichita Sports Commission for honoring me with this award. Personally, it's an exciting way for me to finish my career at Stanford."

Garko led the Cardinal to their third College World Series runnerup finish in the last four seasons and an overall record of 51-18, tying for third on the school's all-time win list. The Cardinal won its first outright Pac-10 title since 1999 (Stanford shared the 2000 conference crown with Arizona State and UCLA) before sweeping through NCAA Regional and Super Regional action unbeaten.

At the CWS, the Cardinal battled back from a second-round loss to Cal State Fullerton to win its bracket and extend national champion Rice to a third and deciding game in the inaugural CWS Championship Series, which ended Monday.

He'll join the Cleveland Indians organization, who drafted him in the third round, sometime this summer. Stanford product Jeremy Guthrie was signed by the Indians last year, and Stanford grad Jody Gerut made his major league debut with Cleveland earlier this summer.

Garko was the Co-Pac-10 Player of the Year, a first team All-American, Regional Most Outstanding Player and All-College World Series selection.

He hit a team-high .402 to become just the sixth Stanford player to ever bat over .400 in the season and the first since David McCarty hit .420 in 1991.

Garko finished the season with more homers (18) than strikeouts (17). He also tied Stanford's single-season record with 92 RBI. In addition, he led the club in home runs (18), doubles (24, co-leader with Carlos Quentin, and second on the Stanford single-season list), total bases (182), slugging percentage (.703), multiple-hit games (33), multiple-RBI games (27), sacrifice flies (8) and extra-base hits (42). In addition, he ranked second on the club in hits (104, sixth on the Cardinal all-time single-season list), walks (28), hit-by-pitches (12) and putouts (411).

Garko earned NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player honors for the second time in his career after hitting .615 (8-13) with three homers, nine RBI, eight runs scored and a 1.385 slugging percentage.

Garko was also successful in Pac-10 play, hitting .433 with 10 homers and leading the conference with 39 RBI, an .856 slugging percentage and 77 total bases.

Garko finished his Stanford career with a .350 batting average (ninth on the school's career list), 39 homers (also ninth on the career list) and 191 RBI (seventh all-time) in 218 games played, and 198 starts. He also had 60 career doubles to rank fifth on the school's all-time list.