The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays played in frigid temps Wednesday after severe weather swept across North Texas Wednesday.
It was only 39 degrees at first pitch, the coldest start ever for a day game at Rangers Ballpark -- 40 degrees colder than when the two teams played Tuesday night.
With winds gusting near 20 mph, it felt closer to freezing when the series finale started at 2:34 p.m. local time after a rain delay of 1 hour, 29 minutes. But that didn't stop thousands from attending the second weekday afternoon game of the season.
Folks at the game weren't surprised by the cold temperatures or rain.
"Rain didn't' scare us off, if they're willing to come out and play, we will come out and watch them play," said Jason Ballard, who brought his son to the game on Wednesday and was pretty sure they'd stay all nine innings. "That depends on the weather, if it starts pouring down rain we might not hang out quite as long."
And with heavy jackets, scarves, knit hats and gloves, thousands attended the game on Wednesday despite the cold.
"This is the coldest baseball game I've ever been to but I've been to some very cold football games, so I'm prepared," said fan Luther Nelson. "We came prepared, we planned this weeks ago," Nelson said. "So, we're here today and we're going to enjoy it one way or another."
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"Middle of April, it's crazy, of all the days to come to a day game and we have weather like this," Ballard said.
The coldest start at Rangers Ballpark, which is in its 20th season, was a night game against Boston on April 7, 2007, when it was 38 degrees.
Texas is known more for the summer heat than cold. Just two seasons ago, the temperature was at least 100 degrees for 27 games at Rangers Ballpark.
