The 2023 National Toy Hall of Fame Inductees

Well, the National Toy Hall of Fame announced its newest inductees last week.  And, instead of the normal three inductees, they had FOUR of them this year! They were:

1.  Baseball cards.  They’ve been around since the 1860s.

2.  Cabbage Patch Kids.  They debuted in 1982.

3.  Nerf.  The first Nerf product was a four-inch foam ball Parker Brothers sold in 1970.  They billed it as the “world’s first official INDOOR ball.”

4.  The Fisher-Price Corn Popper that toddlers push around.  It wasn’t actually nominated.  They inducted it as a bonus in honor of the Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary.  (It beat out four other “forgotten” toys.)

Nine other finalists didn’t get enough votes to make it in, including two toys that had a big year otherwise:  Ken dolls and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The other toys that didn’t make the cut are:  Battleship . . . Bingo . . . Bop-It . . . slime . . . Choose Your Own Adventure . . . Connect 4 . . . and the Little Tikes red car.

Last year’s inductees were:  Lite-Brite, spinning tops, and Masters of the Universe.

Here’s a photo of this year’s inductees.

(UPI / Museum of Play)