I can only guess.  By historic  standards, its impressive enough.  By the way the shortstop position has evolved, it’s more iffy.  He was the best shortstop in the NL.  But he played in an era of Ripken, Alex, Nomar (when he was good), Jeter.  His power numbers don’t match up as stellar, obviously compared to Alex, and Cal.  He only had 500 AB’s 7 times in his career (result of your DL point).

Far be it from me to sink to National Enquirer levels, but Larkin hit 33 home runs in 1996.  His next best year was 20.  Even the 20 year was slightly out of character.   Since I am guessing at reasons, and never heard a peep other than good things about him, I’ll leave it at that and let the era and numbers speak for themselves.

Comparing his numbers to Joe Morgan seems inappropriate to some extent.  Compare it by era, i.e., the American League shortstops above. 

When I think of a Hall of Fame shortstop, I think of Ernie Banks.  Cal Ripken.  I hate to apply the seemingly absurd is he worthy of first ballot thinking, but Barry Larkin doesn’t make me think of Banks or Ripken.  I guess my impression is nominally on the positive side of borderline.

Now Jack Morris, on the other hand is a Hall of Famer.  He’s like Schilling.  Winning showed up wherever he did.  What a coinidence.  That goes a long way toward outweighing some number shortages.  Larkin did win a ring with the Reds in 90 but while they were good and swept, its easy to forget that since the Reds have been so anemic since MLB became Money League Baseball.

 - Presence.  He was a dominant player.  For years, the Phils, Pirates and Expos had some great rivalries.  You didn’t let Schmidt beat you, you didn’t let Stargell beat you, and you didn’t let Andre Dawson beat you.  He was more than the big bat in the lineup.  He was outright dangerous.  He had tremendous bat speed, and his hits were vicious.
In some ways, his numbers are indeed borderline.  He didn’t hit 500 homers, made fewer than 10 all star teams.   But Nolan Ryan had some less than Hallish numbers, like winning percentage, but he was a presence. 

 - Character.  This is well documented.  When you see Mark MacGwire stuck at 20%, it serves as a precursor to how statistical kings like Bonds, Sosa and Raffy Palmiero will be treated.  And while the steroid beneficiaries eventually accumulated numbers superior to Dawson’s, when we are able to review that in retrospect, it becomes clearer what a great player Dawson was.  Not to mention that the theme of Ryne Sandberg’s Hall speech was get Andre Dawson in here with me. 

If Andre Dawson didn’t have bad knees, if Ted Williams didn’t spend 5 years in the military, if Sandy Koufax had piched until he was even 35.
Take your pick of extending the ledger card.  You don’t run a Hall of Fame candidacy based on that, but Andre Dawson belongs on the way he conducted himself, and performed.  Particularly if Jim Rice is in.
They were similarly feared, respected and untalkative in their day. 
I honestly doubt that there would be 1 player that played against him that would tell you otherwise.

Regarding Alomar, I, like Chris thought about Utley when  I heard he didn’t make it.  Who knows how Chase finishes up, but due respect to Alomar, Chase is a presence.  I guess.  Who knows with these guys.

The only thing I can say about Bert Blyleven is that there wouldn’t have been 1 club that wouldn’t have loved to have had him on its staff.  It does look lke the voter’s pushed him to a 2011 finish line, and while it will be nice to see him get in, I also can’t help but feel that his eventual membership will be cheapened by the publicity of elect Blyleven chants the last several years.  That aside, while I find Chris Berman hard to handle these days, when he originated his then awesome baseball nicknames on then awesome ESPN, it didn’t get any better than Bert Be-Home By-Leven.

Kendrick will likely start the year at #5. My guess would be Carpenter or Savery would be next in line. My guess is that they see Aumont as a future closer.

Shocked about Alomar, not so much about Larkin. Alomar was only a couple votes shy, he’ll get in next year with Blyleven (5 votes shy).

Dawson doesn’t deserve to be in there, IMO. A .323 career OBP!!?? That’s worse than Rollins!

Additional text on Beltre.  Theo Epstein’s Nw Year’s Resolution, from what I’ve gathered is to improve his defense.  No doubt he will do that in Beltre.  But Ben Maller of Sox Sports offers some additional numbers
that point to some potential struggles this year.  We shall see.
Fenway Park hasn’t been kind to Beltre, he’s a career .179 hitter with no homers and only 4 RBI’s at the old yard…

<<Beltre has struggled for most of his career against AL East teams…  He’s a .217 hitter against the Rays,  .243 (Blue Jays), .251 (Orioles) .254 (Yankees)…

Boston will be the “Boo Sox” when Beltre gets off to his typical slow start…

Beltre has a history of getting of to very slow starts… He doesn’t hit many homers in April… In fact its his worst month for bombs in his career…

We all know what happens to guys who get off to slow starts in Boston… They don’t last long…  At least Beltre only signed a one-year deal…>>