Somewhere beyond the circle of money, glitz, drugs, and controversy that characterizes professional sports in America, remnants of an ideal exist. In Iowa, that ideal survives in the form of high school wrestling.

Each a three-time state champion, Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere have a chance in their senior year to join the sport's most elite group: the "four-timers," wrestlers who win four consecutive state titles. For Jay, a ferocious competitor who feeds off criticism and doubt, a victory would mean vindication over the great mass of skeptics waiting for him to fail. For Dan, who...

Summertime in Toms River, New Jersey, means two things: Tourists and Little League champions.

The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when its team made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, three times in five years, finally bringing home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of twelve-year-old All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy.

In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly...