There’s a historic house in Durham where drive-by traffic tends to slow down to snap a picture.
Locals call it the “Bull Durham House.” It’s where scenes from the iconic 1988 baseball-centric romantic comedy Bull Durham was filmed.
It’s one of the oldest houses in the city. The sign out front calls it the Manning House. It was built in 1880 for Judge James Manning – who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court for two years and was the state’s Attorney General from 1916 to 1925.
More people have been asking to see the home after learning the 3,700-square-foot Queen Anne Revival house – with the big front porch – was for sale.
The asking price? A cool $1.6 million.
At a recent open house, Kathy Carter served as the tour guide.
She quickly pivots from the home’s origin to the part folks want to hear.
“And then come back down and tour downstairs and see the famous tub from the Bull Durham movie,” she tells fans and prospective buyers.
Indeed, it’s hard to forget that famous love scene in the yellow and white bathtub between “Annie and Crash,” played by Sarandon and Kevin Costner in the 1988 film.
Jacob Geller is a big Bull Durham fan.
“We took pictures of the bathtub," Geller said. "It was like, ‘That’s the real bathtub Susan Sarandon was in!’”
He and his girlfriend, Annie Maynard dressed as “Annie and Crash” for Halloween last year.
“We took a picture like on the front of his Honda Fit, kind of positioned in the same way that they are on the cover of his much nicer car,” Maynard said.
Adam Dickinson, a real estate broker, says it was hard separating “Bull Durham” lovers from real buyers.
“It was probably about two to one in favor of folks who were curious versus those who were potential buyers,” Dickinson explained.
So, he teamed up with a local preservation group and held an open house for everyone. Valerie Jarrett, wearing a blue Durham Bulls baseball t-shirt, admits she’s visited the home before. It was during a yard sale earlier this year.
“We’ve never seen the actual backyard and it’s such an iconic scene in the movie,” Jarrett said. “We came and pretended to buy things so that we could see the backyard.”
These days, the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team is still going strong with sellout crowds and fireworks on weekends.
As for the movie home, after a mention in the New York Times the “Bull Durham House” is now under contract.
This story originally aired on NPR's Morning Edition.
