Who’s on first?

•On June 24, 1901, the first major exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s artwork opens at a gallery in Paris. The 19-year-old Spaniard was unknown outside Barcelona, but he had already produced hundreds of paintings. Picasso continued to produce art with undiminished force until his death in 1973 at the age of 91.

•On June 25, 1910, Congress passes the Mann Act, also known as the White Slave Traffic Act. The law actually had little to do with slavery; it was aimed at stopping the supposed problem of innocent girls being lured into prostitution. The most famous prosecution under the law was musician Chuck Berry, who was convicted in 1961 of taking an unmarried woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.”

•On June 23, 1929, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara is born in Jersey City, N.J. Shaara’s second novel, “The Killer Angels,” is considered by some readers and historians to be the best novel ever written about the Civil War.

•On June 22, 1937, in Chicago’s Comiskey Park, Joe Louis wins the world heavyweight boxing title when he defeats Jim Braddock in an eighth-round knockout. Louis was never beaten in his nearly 12-year heavyweight reign, defeating 25 challengers.