Paul Sullivan: Selling his plan for the Chicago White Sox is just part of the gig for new GM Chris Getz

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chris Getz was only 2 years old when the Chicago White Sox came up with one of their most infamous marketing campaigns.

The Sox had removed announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson from the broadcasting booth in 1986 and named him executive vice president in charge of baseball operations, giving him free rein to fix an organization that had stagnated after the “Winning Ugly” division championship season of 1983.

“We sat down over the winter to think about what we had to sell, and what we had to sell was the Hawk,” assistant vice president for marketing Steve Schanwald told the Tribune’s Phil Hersh at the start of the ’86 season.

Harrelson was soon the subject of articles in unlikely outlets such as Esquire and GQ. His unique sartorial sensibilities made him stick out from every other baseball executive in the 1980s, when bland was the norm.

So instead of using star players such as Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk and Ron Kittle or manager Tony La Russa, the Sox decided to make Harrelson the centerpiece of their marketing campaign. A graphic artist was commissioned to draw a cartoonish Harrelson dressed as Uncle Sam in a cowboy hat, and billboards were plastered all over the South Side with Harrelson pointing his index finger outward and the slogan: “The Hawk Wants You.”

“I don’t remember that,” Getz said with a laugh. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

I asked Getz whether Sox marketing guru Brooks Boyer could get someone to make a cartoon version of him and reboot the old ad campaign with the new general manager?

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Brooks and (senior vice president for communications Scott Reifert) about stirring something up,” Getz said.

As it turned out, Hawk may have wanted you, but most of you Sox fans didn’t want the Hawk. After one disastrous 90-loss season during which he fired La Russa, Harrelson went back to the broadcast booth where he belonged, and new GM Larry Himes built a farm system that helped revive the franchise in the early 1990s.

Getz, in his first year on the job, should have a longer stint as Sox GM than the Hawk, though like Harrelson in ’86, he has a hard sell ahead.

Getz inherits only one superstar in Luis Robert Jr., and lacking a budget that would allow him to bid for some of the premier free agents this offseason, he brought in players on the comeback trail such as Paul DeJong, Mike Soroka and Erick Fedde while dealing relievers Aaron Bummer and Gregory Santos for quantity to provide some much-needed depth.

It’s only spring training, when everyone is generally in a good mood, but Getz already has exhibited a different style than former Sox GM Rick Hahn, as evidenced by his agreeing to a spur-of-the-moment interview last week on the back fields of Camelback Ranch.

Hahn’s usual retort when blowing off interview requests was, “I spoke last week.” Hahn’s ex-boss, former executive vice president Ken Williams, preferred a simple growl when approached in spring training on his golf cart, nicknamed “the mobile woodshed” by one Sox beat reporter who was often called to the hot seat to hear Williams’ complaints.

Getz understands it’s his responsibility to inform fans of what he’s trying to accomplish and then let them decide whether he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t seem to care about critics on social media, sports talk radio or in the newspapers.

Selling the Sox is one of his duties as GM, and Getz is happy to discuss his philosophy with anyone who asks.

“That generally comes with the position, being able to explain the direction, the state of the organization presently and the direction we’re going,” he said. “I genuinely feel positive about the moves that we’ve made, whether it be the hirings we’ve made or the players coming in. So I feel very comfortable whether it’s selling or explaining some of the decisions.”

The bulk of those decisions have received a lukewarm response from Sox fans, who already went through a rebuild from 2017-20 and don’t seem receptive to another. This particular rebuild resembles the late 1990s version that kept superstar Frank Thomas and surrounded him with unknown young entities such as Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Magglio Ordonez and Ray Durham.

Manager Jerry Manuel, like Pedro Grifol, was also a baseball lifer getting his first shot running a major league team. Manuel’s positivity was viewed as naive by hard-bitten Sox fans.

But Manuel’s 2000 Sox shocked the baseball world by winning a division title. It was one of the most interesting seasons I’ve experienced in 36 years covering baseball in Chicago.

At some point over the last decade, the word “rebuild” became a pejorative, and Getz prefers not to use it when describing his plan. He’s hoping untested acquisitions such as reliever Prelander Berroa and outfielders Dominic Fletcher and Zach DeLoach can combine with veterans Robert, Eloy Jiménez, Michael Kopech and Andrew Benintendi to surprise the experts, much like the 2000 Sox.

“Personally I don’t like operating with extremes,” Getz said of the R-word. “There are short-term, midterm and long-term goals. And you’ve got to have something you’re working toward, ultimately. But in the shorter windows — ‘What do we want to accomplish today?’ — whether it be any acquisition, any hire, any decision being made, it’s really (asking), ‘What part of the process are we accomplishing with that?’

“I feel with some of the players we brought in, we’ve got some that will help us in the short term and perhaps help us in the long term. We’ve got players that we have control over, and they fit the need short term and for the future.

“The Gregory Santos deal (with the Seattle Mariners), we’re bringing in Prelander Berroa, and you wind back to where Santos was last year and where Berroa is now. They’re pretty comparable in their careers, but to also be able to get a Zach DeLoach in that deal that can help the outfield depth, and also a draft pick to help build our farm system even further … that’s the thought process in terms of any decision being made.”

A former infielder who enjoyed most of his success with the Kansas City Royals, Getz has been accused of turning the Sox into “Project Kansas City,” a version of his minor-league plan that the Sox dubbed “Project Birmingham.”

It’s a running joke that continued last week with the signing of former Royals infielder Mike Moustakas to a minor-league deal. But it’s not much different from former Cubs GM Dallas Green bringing former Philadelphia Phillies personnel — including manager Lee Elia and players Larry Bowa, Gary Matthews and Ryne Sandberg — to the North Side in the early 1980s.

Still, Getz is well aware of the criticism.

“I definitely have caught some grief for that,” he said. “Time will tell. I’ve got to prove that we’re heading in the right direction. There are certain types of people, non-uniformed or uniformed, that I look at their skill set, their level of selfishness, that will allow us to push forward.

“Whether they come from the Kansas City Royals or the Braves or the Angels, I don’t care. My experiences have allowed me to access individuals that fit our short- and long-term goals. In the end we need to go out and win baseball games, and when we don’t, obviously there will be criticism and skepticism. Foundationally, I feel like we’re working in the right direction.”

Getz acknowledged he learned a lot about the GM job from Hahn during his years running the farm system, and called Hahn a “mentor” in the organization.

“I enjoyed working with him, and I know he’s a supporter,” he said. “And I look forward to having him as a resource as we navigate this, along with others around the game.”

When Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf promoted him to replace Hahn in August, Getz said in his introductory news conference that he understood some Sox fans would be skeptical of the decision and that he needed to prove himself on the job.

Whether Getz succeeds or not, he’s determined to do things his way.

A new face of the organization was definitely needed, and unlike the Hawk, this one promises not to be a caricature.