The Kovalchuk arbitrator

Since I hadn't seen much about the arbitration thus far, I went looking for information on who our new System Arbitrator is. After doing some digging, I found that it's Richard I. Bloch, a 67-year-old arbitrator who's originally from New Jersey, but has lived in DC for years. He seems eminently qualified, based on his history (after the jump).

Bloch has an undergraduate from Dartmouth and hold both a law degree and an MBA from the University of Michigan. From 1971 to 1975 he taught Labor Arbitration at the University of Detroit. He was then the permanent arbitrator for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and was appointed by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as a member of the Foreign Service Greivance Board, serving as Chairman of that Board from 1978-1984. He was Major League Baseball's arbitrator from 1983-1985, and has served as a salary arbitrator for the NHL prior to this appointment. He also is the arbitrator between ALCOA and both the Aluminum Workers Union and the United Steelworkers, as well as between General Dynamics and all of their unions. Football fans may remember him as the arbitrator for the Terrell Owens/Philadelphia Eagles case, in which he looked at both the letter and the spirit of the CBA in making his ruling. From what I have seen, he seems like a very good choice for performing this arbitration.