Nancy Bea Hefley announced today she will retire as Dodgers organist at the end of the season, whenever that is — it’s up to the players how long they last in the postseason.

“Though the World Series,” she said, definitely showing an optimistic bent.

Nancy Bea, 79, has been the Dodgers’ organist since 1988, which leaves her some distance behind Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda as Dodgers institutions, but she didn’t just show up, either.

That’s 27 seasons up there in the press box, making music, much of it from light opera hits like Oklahoma and Phantom of the Opera. Which I liked to hear but probably meant very little to fans younger than, oh, 50.

For a while there, it looked like it would end badly, but the Dodgers jumped in to avert a public relations bloody nose, and now it seems as if the musician herself has decided it is time to go.

She seemed pleased with the pre-game ceremony in her honor, where Orel Hershiser presented her with flowers and a jersey.

If Scully has been the aural backdrop to the Dodgers experience for six-plus decades, Nancy Bea provided the musical accompaniment.

She did 28 years up there in the press box, smiling at reporters, all of whom eventually did a story on her, as her husband looked on.

She was a very sweet lady, and it was not her fault that 1) tastes changed over the past quarter century, 2) the club shifted to more contemporary music and 3) she never seemed comfortable with recommendations to play something more hip than show tunes.

She will be missed by some (hello!), as will be organ music, which for decades and decades was a staple of the ballpark experience and is now nearly gone.

It will not go unnoticed that Nancy Bea’s first year playing for the club, 1988, was also the last time the Dodgers won the World Series. A right-hander named Orel Hershiser was a key performer in that.

If they manage another championship on her way out, Nancy Bea will have had a great beginning and a great finish to her Dodger Stadium career.

Unless the Dodgers change their mind and try to bring back their lucky charm who plays The Music of the Night.