For years, the Joe Maddon-Peoria story has been that in 1984 Maddon introduced himself to the new Peoria Suns owner Pete Vonachen by saying, “Hi, I’m Joe Maddon, and I’m your manager. I just want you to know that I’ve never managed a team before.”

The tale continues with Vonachen shaking his hand and replying, “Hi, I’m Pete Vonachen, and I’ve never owned a team before.”

Great yarn.

Also untrue.

What is true is that Maddon has a distinctive and successful skill set, like other Peoria managers of note, from Pete Mackanin and Jim Tracy to Jody Davis and Ryne Sandberg.

“It took all of Maddon’s acumen to go 66-73 in his first year on the job,” wrote Mike Downey in the Chicago Tribune.

This Opening Day, April 5, when the Cubs host the St. Louis Cardinals, could start a Cubs turnaround as dramatic as the Tampa Bay Rays’ last-to-first move when Maddon steered them from a 66-96 season in 2007 to a 97-65 Division title in 2008.

Signed by the Cubs in November to a five-year, $25 million contract, the 61-year-old Maddon comes from a cost-conscious franchise playing in a dismal venue with lousy attendance to a top MLB franchise that – despite finishing in fifth place for five straight seasons – is now so promising that forecasters ranging from The Sporting News to Las Vegas odds-makers give Chicago a real chance to win. TSN prognosticators say the Cubs will win the World Series; Las Vegas pegs them as 12-1 shots at winning it all (after last summer, they’d been at 40-1).

Since November, Maddon has repeatedly said the Cubs will compete now, not “next year.”

“It all starts with the players,” says Phil Theobald, who was a Journal Star sportswriter for 33 years and covered Peoria’s minor league club for 12 years, including Maddon’s Suns season.

“I’ve seen good talent messed up by bad managers, but a good manager can’t get a lot out of bad talent,” Theobald continues. “He’ll establish a club chemistry in a positive way. If they get off to a decent start, with their mix of young players and veterans in the mix, they’ll build on it. The foundation is there.”

Managing the Peoria Suns (Peoria was then part of the California Angels’ organization) was actually Maddon’s third stint as a skipper, after the Idaho Falls Angels in ’81 and the Salem Angels in ’82-83. With Peoria, Maddon’s first four summers were all losing seasons.

But Maddon had the ability to improve and specialized in getting to know a team, Theobald says.

“[Peoria] managers after him had Major League experience, but he had not,” he says, “Still, he impressed on the kids – many of whom were away from home for the first time – that they were at a crossroads, either on their way to a career with fabulous earnings or at a time to go out and drink beer every night, which he saw as a waste.”

Born and raised in Hazleton, Pa., where he grew up in an apartment above his dad’s plumbing business, Maddon went to Lafayette College and in 1975 signed with the Angels and played four seasons in Class-A ball. A catcher, Maddon’s playing career from 1976-79 in the Quad Cities, Salinas and Santa Clara was unimpressive, compiling a decent fielding average mostly as a catcher and with some games at first, third and the outfield, but with just a .267 batting average.

Staying in the Angels organization for 31 years, as minor league manager, scout, hitting instructor, Major League coach and interim manager, Maddon in 2006 moved to Tampa Bay. There, he led them to their first Division title in the talent-rich American League East, earning Manager of the Year honors in 2008 and 2011. In nine seasons there, he compiled a 781-729 record.

Personal relationships made a difference, Theobald remembers.

“His was a close clubhouse,” he says. “Joe learned about the players. He wasn’t one of those managers who say, ‘Here’s a bat, here’s a glove, and we’ll be together for 140-some games.’ He learned about kids’ backgrounds, their makeup.

“He was pretty much all business,” Theobald adds. “We never fished or golfed or drank beer together. He was dedicated and spent a lot of time doing evaluations and reports for the front office.

“He was thrown out of a couple of games, but he was no Earl Weaver or guys like that,” he continued. “He figured umps were just doing their job – but he stood up for his players, too. He was a ‘players manager’ before that became a negative.”

Plus, Maddon undoubtedly has more power now, Theobald says.

“Joe was a hot commodity coming from Tampa Bay, which plays in a miserable concrete sombrero with no one in the stands,” he says. “When he signed, I think he came away with the feeling that he’s the guy who’s filling out the lineup card, and he has his parameters for managing, for discipline and for employing his own agenda.”

Theobald, who says he’s been a Cubs fan for decades, is almost wistful about the Cubs becoming respectable contenders, laughing and saying, “The tradition of being horrible is almost as admirable as being terrific.”

With Maddon, this April 5 – Easter Sunday – could mark a franchise Resurrection.