'Stache Bash 2007 celebrates the mustache

ST. LOUIS -- Tom Selleck had one. Burt Reynolds and Reggie Jackson, too. Time was, all the hip guys wore mustaches.

Those days went by the wayside with disco and mood rings. The mustache, the epitome of macho cool in the '70s, is now often the subject of scorn and ridicule. Few athletes or celebrities wear them unless they're attached to beards. Mustache-wearing TV and movie characters tend to be evil or goofy. And corporate America?

"There is certainly a level of discrimination in the workplace," said Aaron Perlut, a St. Louis-based public relations executive and one of the founders of the American Mustache Institute. "That's one of the things we'd like to see go away."

Perlut and six of his mustachioed friends started the AMI last year. On Saturday, the group is hosting 'Stache Bash 2007 at the St. Louis bar owned by former Cardinals reliever -- and noted mustache wearer -- Al Hrabosky. Up to 500 people are expected, with proceeds going to Challenger Baseball, a program for children with disabilities.

Perlut, 36, has worn a Fu Manchu on and off for years, despite the funny looks and snide comments.

His co-worker Dan Callahan wore one for years "until I decided I looked like G. Gordon Liddy," he said. Still, he grew back a "painter's brush" mustache, a thin, narrow, closely-clipped 'stache.

"The culture, the fashion has moved so far away from it," Callahan, 51, said. "But you can tell the pendulum is swinging the other way. It almost feels as if there have been people waiting to grow one. We're here to tell them, 'it's safe to go back into the water."'

The American Mustache Institute received mentions on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated thanks to its contest seeking the best-ever sports mustache. Not surprisingly, the top contenders typically hail from the era of the Nixon, Ford or Carter administrations -- Hrabosky with his menacing Fu Manchu, Oakland A's reliever Rollie Fingers and his famous handlebar. A surprising write-in contender is former Cardinals and Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez. The winner will be announced at 'Stache Bash.

Do Perlut and Callahan think the mustache will ever really come back into style?

"I think a lot of it has to do with the fickle nature of the American public," Perlut said. "Fads go in and fads go out."

Callahan said, "It's too bad. Today, the only mustache you see on TV is a milk mustache."