[Alberta's Child]

Good point about the relief pitching, but that wouldn't really have anything to do with the Triple Crown. Leading the league in those three offensive categories means a hitter has to perform well compared to other hitters -- who presumably would be facing the same pitching across the league (for the most part).

In recent decades, the bigger obstacle to winning the Triple Crown was specialization among hitters. A dominant power hitter who could also hit for a high batting average was a rarity from the 1970s to the steroid era.

[Ransomed]

But you are much more likely to make a pitching change up by one in the 7th for a batter that has 46 home runs in late August and the 2nd highest batting average than a guy with the highest batting average and 3 home runs. The higher average/slap hitter guy that has a lot of infield singles is less of a threat in that situation. So it makes it much harder for the rare high average power guy to keep that average up, he is much more likely to get a pitching change when he can change the score with one swing.

Freegards