I actually wasn’t being sarcastic at all. What did we all learn growing up? A tie goes to the base runner, right? I would submit that there are many times when the base runner either beats the throw by a hair or arrives at the same instant as the throw and is called out at first. Only when the runner OBVIOUSLY beats the throw do they call him safe (and Don Denkinger even screwed THAT up).
My fault. I read your post wrong. I thought you meant the first baseman didn’t have to be anywhere near the base and they’d call the runner out, like on second with the double play. My bad.