Question: Whitey Hilcher played for a baseball team that joined the National League (NL) in what year?
Context: The San Francisco Giants are an American baseball team.  Their 2012 season marked their 130th year in Major League Baseball, as well as their 55th year in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and the thirteenth at AT&T Park.  The Giants finished with a record of 94–68, 1st place in the NL West, and pulled off a massive upset over the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the Division Series thereby becoming the first National League team (8th in MLB History) to come back from a 2–0 deficit in a best-of-five series by sweeping three games in the opponent's park.  The Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after overcoming a 3-1 deficit in the NL Championship Series and advancing to the 2012 World Series to face the Detroit Tigers.  They swept the Tigers in four games to win their second World Series title in three years. The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri.  The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division.  Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006.  With origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Louis, entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe purchased a barnstorming club in 1881, then known as the Brown Stockings, and established them as charter members of the American Association (AA) the following season.  Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892; at that time, they were called the Browns and the Perfectos before they were officially renamed as the Cardinals in 1900. The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division.  They were a charter member of the American Association in 1882 and joined the NL in 1890. The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia.  The Braves are members of the National League (NL) East division in Major League Baseball (MLB).  Since the franchise started as the Boston Red Stockings (no relationship to the current Boston Red Sox team) in 1871, the team has changed its name several times and relocated twice.  The Braves were a charter member of the NL in 1876 as the Boston Red Caps, and are one of the NL's two remaining charter franchises (the other being the Chicago Cubs).  In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager.  The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.  The Braves franchise has employed 45 managers. The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB).  After decades of early futility in the National League, St. Louis baseball encountered a renaissance with eleven World Series titles and eighteen National League pennants since 1926.  Sam Breadon's purchase of the majority stake in the club in 1920 spurred this revival; he then assumed the role as team president and assigned the young, enterprising Branch Rickey as his business manager, functioning as a prototype of today's general manager.  In his tenure as owner until 1947, Breadon's Cardinals won nine NL pennants and six World Series titles.  During this era in Cardinals franchise history, they also totaled 2,898 wins and 2,171 losses in the regular season for a .572 winning percentage. Walter Frank "Whitey" Hilcher (February 28, 1909 – November 21, 1962) was a Major League Baseball pitcher.  Hilcher played for the Cincinnati Reds in , , , and . The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB).  Founded in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association (AA), the team was originally named the Brown Stockings before it was shortened to Browns the next season.  The team moved to the National League in 1892 when the AA folded.  The club changed its name to the Perfectos for one season in 1899 and adopted the Cardinals name in 1900.  The St. Louis Cardinals are tied with the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates as the third-oldest continuously-operated baseball team.  In that time, the team has won 19 National League pennants and 11 World Series championships (most in the National League and second only to the New York Yankees, who have won 27).  They also won four American Association pennants and one pre-World Series championship that Major League Baseball does not consider official. The San Francisco Giants are a professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California.  They have been a member of the National League (NL), as a part of Major League Baseball, since the team's inception in 1883.  They joined the NL West following the establishment of divisions within the league in 1969.  The Giants played 75 seasons in New York City, New York, as the New York Gothams and New York Giants, spending the majority of their seasons at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.  The Giants relocated to San Francisco in 1958, briefly playing at Seals Stadium.  After sharing Candlestick Park for 29 years with the San Francisco 49ers National Football League team, the Giants moved to their current home, AT&T Park, in 2000. The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team that has been based in Washington, D.C. since .  The Nationals are a member of both the Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League Eastern Division and the National League (NL) itself.  Since the 2008 season, the Nationals have played in Nationals Park; from 2005 through , the team played in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB).  As the game of baseball garnered interest in the United States in the 19th century, professional baseball in St. Louis became rooted chiefly in one disestablished Major League club – named the Brown Stockings, the same as the Cardinals' earliest name – which is loosely connected, but does not fall within the scope of, today's Cardinals.  The Brown Stockings became St. Louis' first fully professional baseball club when they gained accession in the National Association (NA) in 1875.  However, the NA folded after that season.  That winter, with five other former NA teams, St. Louis established a new, eight-team league called the National League (NL) and began play the next season.  Despite early success, Brown Stocking players were found to be connected to game fixing scandals, which forced bankruptcy and the club's expulsion from the NL.  This scandal also abrogated their professional status but some members maintained play as a semi-professional team, primarily operated by outfielder Ned Cuthbert, until 1881.
Answer: 1890