Worth watching for non-sports fans?
I've never seen a baseball game in my life.
You don't have to be familiar with baseball trivia to enjoy it, but you do have to buy into the notion that baseball is somehow spiritual, a metaphor for life, blah blah blah. You can still like the movie even if you think baseball is just a game, but you probably won't get the full chills.
shareActually, I think the opposite in my case is true. I played organized baseball from ages 6-20 (never close to going pro, though) and, while I like this movie OK, I like "Bull Durham," "Major League," and "Eight Men Out" better. That line about Ty Cobb did not age well at all, given what we know today about Cobb (He wasn't the racist jerk he was made out to be after all). I think this movie actually appeals more to the general population than a die-hard (well, former die-hard, in my case) sports fan.
I know a lot of people (and, yes, some are die-hard baseball fans) love this movie and that's fine. Maybe if I'd seen it in the theater when I was younger (like I did "Bull Durham" and "Major League"), then I'd feel a little differently about it today. I like the movie, but I don't love it. I just don't have the connection with this movie that I do with the other baseball movies that I mentioned.