Keith Hernandez’s mustache has rarely left its perch below his nose in his adult life. It is the thicker, longer cousin to his eyebrows, the hirsute geometric center of his face. His mustache is an entity and a signature. After years of renown, it was voted the top sports mustache of all time in a survey by the American Mustache Institute in 2007.

But now, the Hernandez mustache might have a month of life left in it.

He announced the possibility of shaving it last week on a Mets broadcast. But Hernandez, 58, said Monday that he might simply show up for the Mets’ final game of the season, on Oct. 3, with nothing but bare skin between his nose and upper lip.

“I don’t want to draw attention to it,” he said by telephone from his home in Jupiter, Fla. “I’ll do it, and whoever’s watching the game will see it.”

It would be like Groucho Marx showing up without his greasepaint mustache in “Horse Feathers,” or Tom Selleck appearing without his furry friend in “Magnum, P.I.”