The Fourth of July when the Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 19-3

It was 1977, and the Montreal Expos played a July 4th doubleheader at Chicago against the Cubs.

I was there. I was a teenager, and I liked baseball a lot more back then. We didn't have the Internet, or cable, or iPods, or Toyota Camrys, or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

The first-place Cubs came into the twinbill with a 48-26 record. The fifth-place Expos, though much-improved from the motley crew that went 55-107 the season before, came to Wrigley Field with a humble 34-42 mark.

In Game 1, Montreal scored four runs in the first inning. It was 4-2 at the inning's end. Then it was 6-2. And 7-2. And 9-2. And 10-2. And 14-2. And 14-3. And then the Expos scored five in the ninth inning for a little necessary padding, and won, 19-3.

Warren Cromartie, playing in his first full major-league season, had three doubles and went 5-for-5. Andre Dawson, playing in his first full major-league season, went 3-for-6, homered, and drove in five runs. Ellis Valentine, playing in his first full major-league season, homered twice and drove in five runs. They were the Montreal outfield.

Catcher Gary Carter had two hits and scored three times.

That team had some young talent, eh?

Montreal finished the season 75-87, but Carter, Dawson and company would have better days. The Cubs, who had been 25 games over .500 on June 28, finished 81-81.

The Expos won the second game, 7-6. I didn't stay for the whole thing. A doubleheader makes for a long day at a ballpark. Plus, I had a train to catch to Dubuque.