Chris Shelton (baseball player)

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**Chris Shelton**

Detroit Tigers — No. 26
First baseman
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 15, 2004 for the Detroit Tigers
Former teams
Detroit Tigers (2004–)

Christopher Bob Shelton (born June 26, 1980 in Salt Lake City, Utah), is a Major League Baseball first baseman who plays for the Detroit Tigers. He has a career batting average of .288. After attending the University of Utah, Shelton was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the thirty-third round, although he never made the team's 40-man roster. Unprotected, he was selected by the Tigers in the rule 5 draft. He split time catching for the team with Brandon Inge until the acquisition of Ivan Rodriguez in 2004.

Due to his red hair and prodigious batting, he has earned various nicknames, such as "Red Pop" (a reference to the Detroit-made Faygo beverage) from the Tiger faithful. Tigers play-by-play commentators Rod Allen and Mario Impemba often call him "Big Red" or "Orange Crush." In addition, it is not uncommon to hear the name "Lord Shellington", "Hard Beltin' Chris Shelton", "Showtime Shelton", "C-Shel", or "the Shelton of Swing" shouted by fans when he comes to bat at Comerica Park.

In 2006, Shelton hit nine home runs in the first 13 games of the season; this made him the fastest player in American League history to reach that mark at that point in a season. He also became the fourth player in baseball history to hit at least nine home runs in his team's first 13 games; he trails only Mike Schmidt in 1976, Larry Walker in 1997 and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 in that regard.[1]. He earned the American League Player of the Week accolade for April 3, 2006.[2] Shelton's power dropped significantly after April, however, and on July 31, 2006, he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo to make room for Sean Casey, whom the Tigers had acquired from Pittsburgh in a trade-deadline deal. On September 1, Chris Shelton was recalled back to Detroit.