DALLAS -- Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels was expecting a relaxing vacation with his family in Hawaii last weekend. But he certainly wasn't expecting to deal with a ballistic missile scare.
That's what happened while Hamels was sleeping in his hotel room on Saturday morning. Everybody in Hawaii received the warning on their cell phone that a ballistic missile was headed their way.
"That's what woke me up, and I was like, 'What?' " Hamels said. "That's the whole thing -- there's nothing you can do about it. After about 20 minutes, we were like, 'Hmm.'"
Hamels and his wife, Heidi, stayed in their room and did not tell their children. Their resort was not in Honolulu, and Hamels figured they were safe. He thought if there really was a missile, it would be headed there.
That didn't make it any easier.
"We would've been dead in three seconds, so I'm like, after 20 minutes ... that's the whole thing," Hamels said. "I can't do anything about it. That was one of the strangest things I've ever seen."
The missile scare lasted 38 minutes before the emergency alert system confirmed it was a false alarm. The Hamels family went back to enjoying their annual vacation.