Focus at Four: Brenham baseball legend opens up about success, depression in new book

On the outside, Jon Peters was on the cusp of setting the record for most consecutive games won by a high school pitcher. He was beloved by fans of his Brenham baseball team. He was the first high school athlete featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Inside, he was dying.

"I never felt like I was good enough," said Peters. "Every game, I thought, 'Is this going to be the game I lose?'"

In fact, the night before his record-breaking innings, Peters tried, unsuccessfully, to take his own life.

"Here I am on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and I'm feeling that way," said Peters.

Peters originally signed on to play at Texas A&M University, but injury after injury kept him off the baseball diamond during his college career.

"I felt like I lost my identity," Peters said.

Peters suffered in silence for years, until one day, he heard a voice telling him it was okay to talk about it.

"And I did, I started talking about it," said Peters.

Now, Peters is taking about it in a big way--he wrote a book called "When Life Grabs You by the Baseballs: Finding Happiness in Life's Changeups."

"I want everyone to know that there is hope and there is help," Peters said.

You can hear more from Peters on First News at Four in the video player above, or find out how to buy his book in the Related Links.