Georgia’s Cabbage Patch Kids inducted into National Toy Hall of Fame
What do Dominique Wilkins, Chipper Jones and the Cabbage Patch Kids have in common? They are all hall of fame inductees.
Each achieved their status for different reasons, of course. After all, the Cabbage Patch Kids are too little to play professional sports. They’re the perfect size, however, to fill the hearts of Americans for decades.
In a Friday announcement, the National Toy Hall of Fame said Xavier Roberts’ Georgia-born creations will be honored along with the Fisher-Price Corn Popper, baseball cards and Nerf toys.
“These four deserving inductees represent a great blend of types of play for people of all ages,” Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections and chief curator, said in a statement.
The Cabbage Patch Kids’ family tree was planted in 1976, when 21-year-old Roberts, as an art student, rediscovered a needle molding technique from Germany that creates fabric sculpture.
Roberts began creating “babies,” for which people paid a $40 adoption fee. Two years later, the Georgian and five of his school friends renovated the L.G. Neal Clinic in Cleveland and opened Babyland General Hospital.
By the end of 1983, nearly 3 million kids had been adopted, making them the “most successful new doll introduction in the history of the toy industry,” according to their website.
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Now, one kid is headed from its cabbage patch in Georgia to Rochester, N.Y., where it will be on permanent display at the National Toy Hall of Fame inside the Strong National Museum of Play.
“Cabbage Patch Kids continue to encourage imagination and storytelling for kids,” Bensch said in his statement.
The timing of the announcement couldn’t be better. Although you can’t buy your little ones Wilkins or Jones for Christmas, you can take a trip up the highway and adopt a Cabbage Patch Kid to put under the tree.
About the Author
Nancy Clanton is a lead producer for The AJC's platforms team, but also writes stories about health, travel, events and entertainment. A native of Knoxville and graduate of the University of Tennessee, she has worked at the AJC for 24 years.
