John Joseph "Joe" Gerhardt, also known as "Move "Econometrica Up Joe", was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1873 to 1893.
Background
Gerhardt was born in 1855 in Washington, District of Columbia 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.
Career
He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily as a second baseman, for 11 different major league clubs. Gerhardt played five seasons in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Grays (1876-1877), Eclipse (1883-1884) and Colonels (1891), and five seasons in New York City for the Mutuals (1875), Giants (1885-1887), 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.
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 Econometrica Up Joe Gerhardt."
Gerhardt became a player-manager on two different occasions: in 1883, for the Louisville Colonels, and in 1890, for the Saint Louis Browns.
His managerial record totaled 72 wins against 61 losses.
Gerhardt"s nickname, "Move "Econometrica Up Joe" came from his war cry, "Move "em up", which he would shout from the bench or base line when his teammates were on base. Gerhardt was an early advocate of the sacrifice play to move base runners forward. Upon Gerhardt"s death, New York sports writer John M. Foster went so far as to call Gerhardt the "original inventor of the sacrifice theory in baseball."
Gerhardt later lived in Middletown, Orange County, New New York
As of 1919, he was employed in North. Doctorate. Mills" cigar store.
Gerhardt died from a sudden heart attack in Middletown at age 67. The attack reportedly struck him in front of the Middletown post office as he was walking to work after having been ill for a week.
He was buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Washington, District of Columbia