Cord Placed Team’s Feelings Above His Own Grief : Prep baseball: Not wanting to detract from Poly’s chance to win City title, coach kept silent about his retirement, death of son.

His voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes. The man who had lost his eldest son a day earlier stood at home plate, introducing his ballplayers by name over the public-address system at Dodger Stadium and handing each a trophy.

He worried not about his own painful plight but about the disappointment that his Poly High baseball players were experiencing.

“That’s always been the hardest part of the job,” Coach Jerry Cord said. “Seeing the hurt in their eyes.

“You tell them there’s no loser, but what we’re doing is just setting these kids up for a fall. For 18 years, that final game is always the toughest.”

The hardest defeat of all was saved for last. Poly’s swan song under Cord was played in the City Section 4-A Division final against San Pedro on Wednesday night. Poly scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh but fell short, 6-3.

Thursday, Cord announced that he had resigned as coach after 18 seasons, the second-longest tenure among active City baseball coaches in the Valley.

Cord also has faced a staggering personal loss. His eldest son, Christopher, 25, passed away Tuesday after a lengthy illness. Cord missed school over the past two weeks but has attended games and practices while commuting to his son’s hospital bed in Riverside.

Cord, 52, will retain his teaching position and said the decision to resign as coach was based on a variety of reasons unrelated to his son’s death. He made the decision to resign several weeks ago but remained tight-lipped.

“I was kind of hoping to just slide off into the sunset,” Cord said. “It’s time to let a younger guy take over. I just need some time right now to be with my family.”

Assistants Bob Mesa and Mike Wagner encouraged Cord to reconsider over the summer.

“We asked him to take a few weeks off, go fishing and think about it,” Wagner said. “I think, obviously, that there are a whole bunch of things on his mind.”

Players, acutely aware of Cord’s situation despite his selfless pleas for them to concentrate on the task at hand, did their best to deliver a City title for him.

“I just feel bad for Coach,” first baseman Francisco Flores said. “I wanted to win one for him so bad. He’s almost like a god to me.”

Cord hesitated to share the news of his adopted son’s illness with players because he didn’t want it to become a distraction.

“It’s their day,” Cord said. “There’s enough pressure on them just walking out on the field. I was really fearful of creating outside pressure.”

Finally, Cord attempted to tell the team of his son’s plight before their first-round playoff game against Van Nuys and needed help from Mesa and Wagner.

“I wasn’t very good at it,” Cord said. “Bobby and Mike did most of the talking.”

Once players learned of the illness, they were quietly resolute in reaching their goal to win the first baseball title in school history. Poly, which finished 21-5, had advanced to the City baseball final in 1978 and 1987 under Cord and been turned away on each occasion.

Winning one for the heartbroken coach was on the minds of players.

“We tried not to talk about it, but you could see it in some of our faces,” Flores said. “I know most of the seniors--me, Jesus (Perez) and Steve (Chavez)--we were all with him for all three years and we really did feel for him.”

Judging by Cord’s tone, it will be difficult for him to leave baseball.

“I went to high school and college so I could become a coach,” said Cord, a Poly graduate. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

“It seems like I’ve been at the school forever. It’s been a good 18 years and a great bunch of kids.”

Graveside services for Christopher Cord will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth.

Staff writer Paige A. Leech contributed to this story.