Before 1996, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 471 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 1996

	NAME	SV	G	W	L	W%	GS	ERA	SO	CG	SHO	IP	H	ER	R	HR	BB	HBP	GF	IBB	TBF	WP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	K%	BB%	WHIP	BABIP	RA	ERA-	FIP	FIP-	H/9	PRAA
1	Lee Smith L. Smith	471	943	68	87	.439	6	2.95	1,195	0	0	1212.1	1,048	397	435	83	452	8	764	96	5,043	44	8.87	3.36	2.64	0.62	23.7	9.0	1.24	.292	3.23	75	2.85	73	7.78	139.6
2	Jeff Reardon J. Reardon	367	880	73	77	.487	0	3.16	877	0	0	1132.1	1,000	397	426	109	358	27	695	65	4,720	20	6.97	2.85	2.45	0.87	18.6	7.6	1.20	.266	3.39	82	3.49	92	7.95	38.7
3	Rollie Fingers R. Fingers	341	944	114	118	.491	37	2.90	1,299	4	2	1701.1	1,474	549	615	123	492	39	709	109	6,942	40	6.87	2.60	2.64	0.65	18.7	7.1	1.16	.271	3.25	83	2.95	82	7.80	125.4
4	Dennis Eckersley D. Eckersley	323	901	192	159	.547	361	3.48	2,285	100	20	3133.0	2,916	1,212	1,311	324	716	67	464	86	12,894	26	6.56	2.06	3.19	0.93	17.7	5.6	1.16	.273	3.77	86	3.36	84	8.38	222.1
5	Tom Henke T. Henke	311	642	41	42	.494	0	2.67	861	0	0	789.2	607	234	252	64	255	9	548	29	3,194	30	9.81	2.91	3.38	0.73	27.0	8.0	1.09	.271	2.87	64	2.71	66	6.92	123.5
6	Rich Gossage R. Gossage	310	1,002	124	107	.537	37	3.01	1,502	16	0	1809.1	1,497	605	670	119	732	47	681	90	7,507	63	7.47	3.64	2.05	0.59	20.0	9.8	1.23	.270	3.33	81	3.18	84	7.45	125.4
7	Bruce Sutter B. Sutter	300	661	68	71	.489	0	2.83	861	0	0	1042.0	879	328	370	77	309	13	512	83	4,251	37	7.44	2.67	2.79	0.67	20.3	7.3	1.14	.268	3.20	75	2.93	80	7.59	88
8	John Franco J. Franco	295	661	68	54	.557	0	2.62	600	0	0	822.0	752	239	290	46	315	8	526	54	3,459	34	6.57	3.45	1.90	0.50	17.3	9.1	1.30	.284	3.18	69	3.27	85	8.23	51.3
9	Dave Righetti D. Righetti	252	718	82	79	.509	89	3.46	1,112	13	2	1403.2	1,287	540	602	95	591	21	474	48	5,988	40	7.13	3.79	1.88	0.61	18.6	9.9	1.34	.286	3.86	88	3.37	85	8.25	94.3
10	Dan Quisenberry D. Quisenberry	244	674	56	46	.549	0	2.76	379	0	0	1043.1	1,064	320	356	59	162	7	553	70	4,247	4	3.27	1.40	2.34	0.51	8.9	3.8	1.18	.276	3.07	69	3.23	82	9.18	81.6
11	Randy Myers R. Myers	243	543	34	49	.410	12	3.17	713	1	0	709.2	592	250	271	54	319	9	399	32	2,987	22	9.04	4.05	2.24	0.68	23.9	10.7	1.28	.284	3.44	84	3.23	84	7.51	50.2
12	Doug Jones D. Jones	239	526	43	58	.426	4	3.12	579	0	0	721.1	730	250	291	42	159	24	447	35	3,044	12	7.22	1.98	3.64	0.52	19.0	5.2	1.23	.307	3.63	77	2.77	70	9.11	95.2
13	Sparky Lyle S. Lyle	238	899	99	76	.566	0	2.88	873	0	0	1390.1	1,292	445	519	84	481	14	634	81	5,794	66	5.65	3.11	1.81	0.54	15.1	8.3	1.28	.278	3.36	79	3.19	86	8.36	81.4
14	Hoyt Wilhelm H. Wilhelm	228	1,070	143	122	.540	52	2.52	1,610	20	5	2254.1	1,757	632	773	150	778	62	651	61	9,164	90	6.43	3.11	2.07	0.60	17.6	8.5	1.12	.245	3.09	68	3.06	82	7.01	167.6
15	Jeff Montgomery J. Montgomery	218	492	38	33	.535	1	2.72	559	0	0	638.2	543	193	217	43	216	19	381	27	2,647	27	7.88	3.04	2.59	0.61	21.1	8.2	1.19	.276	3.06	64	3.10	77	7.65	65.9
16	Gene Garber G. Garber	218	931	96	113	.459	9	3.34	940	4	0	1510.0	1,464	560	654	123	445	37	609	155	6,327	30	5.60	2.65	2.11	0.73	14.9	7.0	1.26	.280	3.90	86	3.44	90	8.73	63.2
17	Dave Smith D. Smith	216	609	53	53	.500	1	2.67	548	0	0	809.1	700	240	280	34	283	13	432	64	3,357	28	6.09	3.15	1.94	0.38	16.3	8.4	1.21	.269	3.11	77	3.03	87	7.78	40.2
18	Rick Aguilera R. Aguilera	211	469	59	56	.513	70	3.25	739	8	0	922.0	868	333	382	82	257	24	351	34	3,838	38	7.21	2.51	2.88	0.80	19.3	6.7	1.22	.287	3.73	84	3.29	85	8.47	61.9
19	Bobby Thigpen B. Thigpen	201	448	31	36	.463	0	3.43	376	0	0	568.2	537	217	237	56	238	23	356	28	2,448	12	5.95	3.77	1.58	0.89	15.4	9.7	1.36	.274	3.75	85	4.15	104	8.50	-10.6
20	Mitch Williams M. Williams	192	612	45	57	.441	3	3.58	650	0	0	684.2	526	272	309	47	537	52	415	38	3,081	42	8.54	7.06	1.21	0.62	21.1	17.4	1.55	.267	4.06	90	4.40	111	6.91	-32.9
21	Roy Face R. Face	191	848	104	95	.523	27	3.48	877	6	0	1375.0	1,347	531	591	141	362	14	574	106	5,691	32	5.74	2.37	2.42	0.92	15.4	6.4	1.24	.281	3.87	92	3.38	91	8.82	51.8
22	Mike Marshall M. Marshall	188	724	97	112	.464	24	3.14	880	3	1	1386.2	1,281	484	548	79	514	31	549	52	5,842	72	5.71	3.34	1.71	0.51	15.1	8.8	1.29	.277	3.56	85	3.22	87	8.31	75.5
23	Steve Bedrosian S. Bedrosian	184	732	76	79	.490	46	3.38	921	0	0	1191.0	1,026	447	496	114	518	27	439	75	5,044	33	6.96	3.91	1.78	0.86	18.3	10.3	1.30	.263	3.75	88	3.85	100	7.75	-1.3
24	Kent Tekulve K. Tekulve	184	1,050	94	90	.511	0	2.85	779	0	0	1436.2	1,305	455	526	63	491	17	638	179	6,001	23	4.88	3.08	1.59	0.39	13.0	8.2	1.25	.267	3.30	77	3.25	88	8.18	71.1
25	Jeff Russell J. Russell	183	534	53	70	.431	79	3.77	670	11	2	1043.2	1,007	437	503	95	393	24	329	40	4,445	43	5.78	3.39	1.70	0.82	15.1	8.8	1.34	.279	4.34	92	3.90	98	8.68	12