Eli5: why are baseball players allowed to run past first base and not be considered “off base”?

Question

Eli5: why are baseball players allowed to run past first base and not be considered “off base”?

In: 1321

Answer 1

Safety reasons, primarily. Having people slide into first is a risk to the runner and the first baseman. So long as you don’t make any move toward second, you can take your sweet time coming back.