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Gilbert MainesMantle was not a bad outfielder, this is true.
Herman Long was not a bad fielder either, imo this is also true. Long had tremendous range at ss, often getting to balls which others would not come near. And he had a fantastic ability to throw effectively from seemingly extremely awkward positions. Frequently though his throws were errant. This combination of capabilities earned him considerable praise and the record for most errors in a season, as well as being the last major leaguerer to have 100 errors in a season.
Now Mantle could not play ss for the Yankees when he came up, because he could not play effectively at that position, and because Rizzuto was established there for a decade (and was coming off his best season with the bat - .324).
So the Ol' Perfesser put him out where he couldn't get hurt or hurt anyone else, under the watchful eye of DiMaggio. Well, that didn't quite work as planned. But you had to put him somewhere.