Is that how you learned to play baseball???
He is beating his kid because he drops the ball while playing catch.
I don’t believe in whipping a kid for dropping a ball or any other innocent mistake. But we do not hear the words spoken or know the background behind the incident. If the kid was being mouthy or disrespectful a swat with the belt was called for. The parent knows the whole situation and not the noisy neighbor nor the judge nor the general public.
Did it ever occur to you that if Bill Buckner's father had taken the time had enough fatherly love for his son and would have whipped Little Bill for not catching a ball, that perhaps the Red Sox would have won the 1986 World Series.
A good whipping today may for missing a catch may save your favorite team from losing the World Series.