The Sports Collection

Our kids love to play outside, and these outfits help them join their favourite team and cheer on their siblings. Go Team CPK!

Catalogue picture of the Cabbage Patch Kids Sports Collection. There are 6 kids, each wearing a different outfit, posed in front of a blue curtain.
1985 Coleco Catalogue, p. 18

This collection started selling in 1985, along with many of the other speciality outfits. However, these outfits were originally only sold packaged. Late in 1985 and early 1986, it appears that Coleco did put them on individually packaged kids, and a small number of the Football outfits made it on twin sets . It is interesting to note that almost all of the boxed kids with these outfits on are in 1985 boxes, I have recorded only one 1986 box, so it appears they didn’t do this for long. Eventually, like all other CPK clothes produced prior to 1987, sports outfits became part of the mass ‘sell-off’ where they put all sorts of weird combinations together and sold outfits on plain boards.

Red haired, green eyed paci girl wearing a cheerleaders outfit MIB, 1985.
A set of brown haired shag, brown eyed boys wearing football outfits in a twin box.
Courtesy of Andrea Crick Huckaba.
Cabbage Pacth Football outfit on a secondary sales board. It includes the helmet and shoes.
Cabbage Patch baseball uniform on a liquidation packaging board.

The Collection

There are six outfits in this collection, each of them depicting a different sport. Each outfit came with at least one accessory and striped sneakers. They were made by the Taiwanese CY and FD factories, and in some cases, there are visible differences between outfits produced by them.

The Outfits

NOTE: Each outfit is tagged in only one piece. I have put (tag) beside the piece with the tag.

Baseball

Packaged Cabbage Patch baseball uniform with helmet and shoes. The outfit is grey with blue and yellow stripe accents. The hat is blue and the shoes have blue stripes.

Outfit Pieces: top (tag) and stirrup pants

Accessory: baseball helmet

Sneakers: some coloured stripes, some not)

Cheerleader

Packaged Cabbage Patch cheerleaders uniform with pompom and shoes. It has a french green sweater with lime green trim and the sneakers have white stripes.
Packaged Cabbage Patch cheerleaders uniform with pompom and shoes. It has a green sweater with dark chrome green trim and the sneakers have green stripes.

Outfit Pieces: green sweater (tag), sateen bloomers, white and green sateen skirt

Comparison picture showing three different cheerlearder sweaters in various shades of green.
Matrix showing the various cheerleading outfit sweater colours.

Accessory: yellow/green or Orange/green pompom

The pompom came in two different colours. I’m assuming this was either a factory difference or because of a supply problem.  

Picture comparing the different Cabbage Patch Cheerleader pompoms. One is yellow and green, one is orange and green.
CY Factory pompom still in the factory wrap, fresh from the packaging.

Sneakers: green stripes

Basketball

Packaged Cabbage Patch basketball uniform with arm bands, head band, knee pads, basketball, and shoes. The jersey is red with a green CPK logo on the front, the shorts are white with red stripes. The arm bands and head band are white and the knee pads are red.

Outfit Pieces: sleeveless jersey, shorts (tag), headband, armbands, knee pads
The 55 may represent 1955, the year Xavier Roberts was born.

Accessory: basketball

Sneakers: white stripes

Hockey

Packaged Cabbage Patch hockey uniform with a hockey stick and shoes. The jersey is purple and white at the top and orange at the bottom. The bottoms are orange with white stripes. The shoes have white stripes.

Outfit Pieces: jersey with padded shoulders, padded shorts (tag)

There are two possible accent colours on this outfit, blue and purple. Both factories made both colours. There are visible factory differences in the stitching of the jersey’s bottom hem and in the colour of the thread used to sew on the silk label. The FD factory used orange thread, and the CY factory used white thread. These differences are important as they allow you to determine which factory made the top, even though it is not tagged.

CU versus FD factory hockey jerseys.
CY vs. FD

Accessory: hockey stick (no manufacturer marks)
Sneakers: white stripes

Football

Packaged Cabbage Patch football uniform with football helmet and shoes. It has a green jersey with the number 27 on one side and the CPK logo on the other. The pants are white with green trim. The shoes have green stripes.
CY factory cabbage patch football uniform. It has a green jersey with the number 27 on one side and the CPK logo on the other. The pants are white with green trim. The shoes have green stripes.
CY Factory
FD factory cabbage patch football uniform. It has a green jersey with the number 27 on one side and the CPK logo on the other. The pants are white with green trim. The shoes have green stripes.
FD Factory

Outfit Pieces: jersey with padded shoulders, shorts (tag)

So far, this is the only sports outfit found on sets of twins.
We don’t know exactly what the 27 stands for. Here are two theories:
1) Xavier Robert’s parents were born on the 11th and the 16th, which when added together, equals 27.
2) Xavier Roberts was aged 27 when the mass market Cabbage Patch Kids were copyrighted in 1982.
What is your theory?

Accessory: football helmet
Note: The helmet can be fragile. Once put together, it can split apart easily, and the chin guard connections can break easily as well.

Sneakers: Green or white stripes

Tennis

Packaged Cabbage Patch Tennis outfit with tennis racquet, visor, and shoes. They are all white with blue, red, and white striped trim. The shoes have white stripes.
Pieces of the Cabbage Patch tennis outfit: sweater, dress and bloomers. They are all white with blue, red, and white striped trim.

Outfit Pieces: tennis dress, sweater (tag), skirt, bloomers, matching striped hairbow

The accent trim is sewn on differently by each factory. FD is much cleaner than CY. This difference is important as it allows you to determine which factory made the dress, even though it is not tagged.

Comparison picture of the CY and FD factory trim sewing.


Accessory: tennis racket (has factory markings), sun visor

Manufacturing mark saying "Made in Taiwan CY" on a white Cabbage Patch tennis racquet.


Sneakers: white stripes

Similar Outfits

  • All Stars Baseball Series – This collection came out in 1986 and is an entirely different series. (Future Post)
Coleco catalogue page picture showing the All Stars Uniform collection on a variety of dolls.
1986 Coleco Catalogue pg. 34 and 35.
  • Hasbro Sports outfits – Two poseable Hasbro CPK outfits (1990/91) are sport related: Tennis and cheerleader.
MIB AA poseable girl with brown hair and brown eyes wearing a Hasbro red, white and yellow cheerleaders outfit and green and white saddle shoes.
MIB poseable girl with wheat hair and green eyes wearing a Hasbro tennis outfit with pink shorts, white visor and white shirt with pink, blue and yellow stripes. She has blue socks and pink striped sneakers.

Other Information

  • It appears that at least the Football outfit was put onto Twins in a twin box. As far as I know, none of the others have been seen on twins.
  • A JCPenney Catalog picture shows the football outfit in blue; however, it was never produced. The back of the original packaging also shows the outfits, but three of the shoes depicted were never sold with the outfits.
Back of the Sport Collection packaging showing pictures of each outfit being own by a different kid.
Picture of an AA boy wearing a blue and white Cabbage Patch football uniform. From their catalogue.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.