On ,December 9 1931 – Baseball owners, fearful of the effects of the Depression, vote to cut squads from 25 players to 23. Both leagues will stop awarding MVP trophies. The National League continues to prohibit uniform numbers. The NL loans the Phillies $35,000 and loans Judge Emil Fuchs, owner of the Braves, $20,000 secured by his stock. Fuchs’s finances are such that he won’t even pay the interest from 1935 to 1937, and will file for bankruptcy in 1938, three years after retiring from the Braves.