As Albert Pujols reclined on a folding chair in the visitors' clubhouse late last month, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman made small talk with teammate Pedro Feliz, thumbed text messages into his cell phone and played with his young son, batboy Albert Jr.

Pujols' relaxed demeanor, though, belied the pressure the slugger is under this month. Not only is his team chasing Cincinnati for the NL Central title and battling in the thick of the National League wild-card race, Pujols and his Reds' counterpart, Joey Votto, are battling for the first batting triple crown in more than four decades and a chance to join greats such as Cobb, Hornsby, Foxx, Gehrig, Williams and Mantle in one of baseball's most exclusive clubs.

"I don't want to talk about it," Pujols said softly when the subject was broached before last month's series opener at Nationals Park. "That's not what I play for. If it happens, it happens."

But after fiddling with his mitt for a moment, Pujols reconsidered.

"It's pretty special to have guys who have the ability to do it," he said. "You have to be consistent. If I get that chance, it will be an honor, an unbelievable accomplishment. You have to be on fire from Day One and stay healthy."

Just 14 players have led their league in batting average, runs batted in and home runs in the same season in the history of the major leagues, and no one's done it since 1967, the year Carl Yastrzemski batted .326, hit 44 home runs and drove in 121 runs for the Boston Red Sox. To find the last Triple Crown winner in the National League, you've got to go back another 30 years, to the Cardinals' Joe Medwick in 1937.

After Sunday's 4-2 Cardinals' win over the Reds, Pujols led the NL in home runs (35), was second in RBI (96) and fifth in batting average (.309). Votto led the NL in RBI (98), was second in batting average (.321) and was tied for third in home runs (32).

But a slump isn't all that that can derail the bids by Pujols and Votto. So could Atlanta's Omar Infante. The Braves infielder was batting .342 through Friday's games but did not have the requisite 502 plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. That could change if Infante plays in each of the Braves' remaining games and averages 4.4 plate appearances per contest.

"There's a reason it hasn't been done in 43 years," Washington's Adam Dunn said last month. "For two guys to have a legitimate chance … that's pretty amazing. They're both such good hitters, not only for average but for power, too."

Dunn also said he believes the fact that the Cardinals and Reds are slugging it out for the division title will ensure that neither player takes a single at-bat lightly.

"It obviously helps a lot, that each game matters," Dunn said. "Both of those guys are their team's big gun, and if one of them falters, that might eliminate one from the race."

Pujols' reluctance to discuss the Triple Crown race has nothing to do with a jinx. Rather, he doesn't want the pursuit of an individual goal to overshadow the Cardinals' pursuit of a playoff berth.

"I don't want to get caught up in it," he said. "Right now, my main focus is about helping this ball club to win. I don't want to bring that distraction to my ball club."

The Cardinals trail the Reds by seven games after taking two of three in this weekend's series, and they are 5 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the wild card.

"We have too much to accomplish in the next few weeks here," Pujols said.