Gerhardt was born in 1855 in Washington, D.C. His father, Joseph Gerhardt, was an immigrant from Prussia who was in the restaurant business and was a Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. His mother, Dorah, was an immigrant from the Hesse Cassel, which is now part of Germany.\n', '

Gerhardt played five seasons in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Grays (1876–77), Eclipse (1883–84) and Colonels (1891), and five seasons in New York City for the Mutuals (1875), Giants (1885–87), Metropolitans (1887) and Gladiators (1890). Across all 15 major league seasons, he appeared in 1,078 games, 893 as a second baseman, 85 as a third baseman, 63 as a first baseman, and 33 as a shortstop.\n', '

Gerhardt was a weak hitter, compiling a .227 career batting average, but he was known as one of the best defensive second baseman of his era. He twice led his league in assists at any position and regularly ranked among the league leaders in putouts. double plays and fielding percentage by a second baseman between 1877 and 1890. His career range factor of 6.46 remains the highest in major league history for a second baseman. He also ranks eighth among all second basemen in major league history with 558 errors at second base. In a 1922 story on Gerhardt, New York sports writer John M. Foster compared Gerhardt to baseball\'s other great second basemen and concluded: "None had anything on Move Em Up Joe Gerhardt."\n', '

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