KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Independence. Share your story idea with Claire.
Earlier this year during the Kansas City Chiefs playoff run, I met Teresa Henderson. She caught my eye in the crowd of red with her Cabbage Patch Kid dolls of various Chiefs players.
When I went to Henderson’s home to do a story on her Chiefs dolls, she told me how big of a Kansas City Royals fan she was. Sure enough, Spring Training rolls around and she sends me pictures of Royals Cabbage Patch Kids.
“I thought baseball has been my true love my whole life, and I've got more dolls,” said Henderson. “I started with nine dolls at the beginning of the season, and as we've added and changed players, it's kind of grown.”
She has repurposed around 30 dolls and they all are lined up her staircase. There’s everyone from Bobby Witt, Jr., Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino.
Just like her Chiefs dolls, she has handmade the uniforms and added the smallest details.
“People are amazed at all the details, like the QuikTrip logo and of course the crown, and that I try to make each player look as close to the player as I can. I've had to learn how to make hair because in the 80s, Cabbage Patch dolls had short hair.”
Henderson doesn’t sell the dolls, but she has made duplicates for players if they ask. She told me Chiefs players Isaiah Pacheco and George Karlaftis have their personal dolls, and she recently gave one to Royals’ Kyle Isbel’s mom.
She’ll take the dolls to games to try to get players’ signatures (no, she still hasn’t snagged Travis Kelce’s). It expands beyond players, too. She has ketchup, mustard and relish dolls and made a crew for the Big Slick game.
The rest of Henderson’s home is full of blue. She has game balls, hats and jerseys going years back, and more unique World Series memorabilia than I’ve seen.
She showed me all the pictures of her at games. She shares her love of the sport with her friends and family.
“I'm a Royals influencer for my friends. I've got babies that I've taken to their first game, and they're now grown adults, and I'm taking their babies to their first game,” said Henderson.
Henderson’s fondest memory is her first game back in the 1970s.
“Somebody recently asked me, ‘Do you have a picture of your dad at the game?’ I said, ‘Yeah… back in the early 70s, we didn't take cameras to the baseball games like we do now.’ We don't have all the memories in print that we had then, but still, my best memory,” said Henderson.
Creating these Cabbage Patch Royals and Chiefs is Henderson’s way of making her own memories. She teased — she isn’t done making her hometown sports teams just yet.
