Former Dodgers president Peter O'Malley donates giant table to McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach

Janet Begley, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·4 min read

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — What exactly can you do with a 35-foot long, 5-foot wide and 4-inch thick mahogany table?

That’s a question that has had Peter O’Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1970 to 1998, perplexed for decades.

He purchased the table from Arthur McKee in 1976 when the McKee Jungle Gardens was forced to close because visitor traffic diminished and the family-owned attraction was unable to compete with the lure of bigger tourist attractions in central and south Florida.

Waldo Sexton on “the Board” during the construction of the Hall of Giants in 1941. The world’s largest one-piece mahogany table sits in the Hall of Giants in what is now McKee Botanical Garden, Vero Beach. Peter O’Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1970 until 1998, donated the table to the garden in 2022. In 1976, the 35-foot long, 5-foot wide, 4-inch-thick table was purchased by O’Malley with a vision to use it at Dodgertown. He maintained the table at Dodgertown until it was loaned back to McKee in 2003 for display in the original Hall of Giants. He has made it a permanent gift.

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O’Malley said he arranged to purchase the table with the hope of using it at Dodgertown, now known as the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach. He and McKee, who were close friends, arranged to move the giant table across town, no small feat since the table weighed at least 2 tons, O’Malley recalled.

“Just getting the table to Dodgertown was a big deal,” said O’Malley. “I really didn’t have any immediate plans for it, so we put it into a shed that was air-conditioned and that’s where it sat.”

Guests of McKee Botanical Garden walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table inside the Hall of Giants, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the garden after he loaned it in 2003.
Guests of McKee Botanical Garden walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table inside the Hall of Giants, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the garden after he loaned it in 2003.

Although O’Malley tried to find a way to use the table at Dodgertown, its enormous size proved to be a hindrance.

“Every year, I would say to friends we should bring the table out and have a party around it,” recalled O’Malley. “But year after year, it just sat there because of its size.”

How the table arrived in Vero Beach

The table has had quite the journey over the past 118 years.

It entered the United States from the Philippines for display at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. At the close of the fair, the table was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where it was displayed for 30 years as California redwood, said Connie Cotherman, marketing and events manager at McKee.

Bringing “the board” to McKee Jungle Gardens prior to 1941. The world’s largest one-piece mahogany table sits in the Hall of Giants in what is now McKee Botanical Garden, Vero Beach. Peter O’Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1970 until 1998, donated the table to the garden in 2022. In 1976, the 35-foot long, 5-foot wide, 4-inch-thick table was purchased by O’Malley with a vision to use it at Dodgertown. He maintained the table at Dodgertown until it was loaned back to McKee in 2003 for display in the original Hall of Giants. He hs made it a permanent gift.

When a museum curator discovered the table was not redwood but mahogany, it was transferred to the museum basement and stored because only native materials were allowed to be exhibited at the Natural History Museum.

In 1936, the table was acquired first by the New York lumber firm Balfour and Koch and later by a furniture company in New York named Schmieg and Kotzian. Two years after purchasing the table, while traveling to Florida on vacation, Schmieg met Vero Beach pioneer and entrepreneur Waldo Sexton, who co-founded McKee Jungle Gardens with Arthur McKee.

Sexton was very familiar with the table as he had spotted and admired it while meandering through the basement of the Natural History Museum in New York.

Arthur McKee Semon (left) with Peter O’Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1970 to 1998, in 1976 when O’Malley purchased the unique mahogany table that is 35-feet long, 5-foot wide, and 4 inches thick. The world’s largest one-piece mahogany table sits in the Hall of Giants in what is now McKee Botanical Garden, Vero Beach. O’Malley donated the table to the garden in 2022.

In 1940, Sexton purchased the table from Schmieg and Kotzian and had it transported to Vero Beach via the Bull Line steamship Cornelia, arriving in nearby Fort Pierce.

It took a crew of nearly 30 to unload the table from the ship and deliver it by truck to McKee Jungle Gardens.

In 1941, Sexton built the historic Hall of Giants at McKee Jungle Gardens to preserve the magnificent table and through the next several decades, the giant mahogany table and Dodgers baseball were intertwined.

The Hall of Giants, taken Tuesday, July 26, 2022, where guests of McKee Botanical Garden can walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table . Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the garden after he loaned it in 2003.
The Hall of Giants, taken Tuesday, July 26, 2022, where guests of McKee Botanical Garden can walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table . Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the garden after he loaned it in 2003.

The Dodgers join the tale

“In 1952, the first Dodger St. Patrick’s Day party in Vero Beach was hosted by my mother (Kay) and father (Walter) at that table, beginning a grand Dodger tradition of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations which continued for six decades and are now legendary,” said O’Malley.

“In the 1950’s, campers from the summer Dodgertown Camp for Boys frequently visited when it was called McKee Jungle Gardens and they were amazed by the table’s size. In 1961 during spring training, I led the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants from the Japan professional baseball league on a tour of McKee, and they were intrigued by the impressive table.”

Guests of McKee Botanical Garden's walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table located inside the Hall of Giants in Vero Beach, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the gardens after it was loaned in 2003.
Guests of McKee Botanical Garden's walk near a historic, 35-foot long mahogany table located inside the Hall of Giants in Vero Beach, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has officially donated the world's largest one-piece mahogany table to the gardens after it was loaned in 2003.

After McKee Jungle Gardens closed in 1976, the property was sold to condominium developers. Those 18 acres lay dormant for the next 20 years, but community visionaries and hard work saved the heart of the garden from development. The saved, restored and newly-named McKee Botanical Garden reopened in 2001, Cotherman said.

When the garden reopened, O’Malley watched the revitalization with enthusiasm.

“I had such admiration for what was happening at the garden,” said O’Malley. “My friend Alma Lee (Loy) and I would talk about all the wonderful improvements that were going on and I decided it was time to get the table back where it belonged.”

The table returned to McKee in 2003 and has remained on loan until this month when O’Malley formally donated the table back to McKee Botanical Garden.

“McKee Garden will always be a special place for our family, as well as for the city of Vero Beach and Indian River County,” said O’Malley. “I’ve been very impressed with the McKee management, Board of Directors, and volunteers since McKee reopened in 2001 and its future is very bright. The table is in great shape and I decided now was the right time to donate it.”

Janet Begley is a local freelance writer for TCPalm.com. If you like articles like this and other TCPalm coverage of Treasure Coast news, please support our journalism and subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Peter O'Malley donates giant table to McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach