Before 1998, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 478 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 1998

	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	478	1,022	71	92	.436	6	3.03	1,251	0	0	1289.1	1,133	434	475	89	486	10	802	100	5,388	47	8.73	3.39	2.57	0.62	23.2	9.0	1.26	.294	3.32	76	2.92	74	7.91	142
2	Dennis Eckersley D. Eckersley	389	1,021	193	170	.532	361	3.49	2,379	100	20	3246.0	3,030	1,257	1,361	341	730	73	564	88	13,363	28	6.60	2.02	3.26	0.95	17.8	5.5	1.16	.273	3.77	86	3.38	84	8.40	226.2
3	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
4	John Franco J. Franco	359	771	77	60	.562	0	2.57	701	0	0	936.0	855	267	323	51	356	9	623	56	3,938	42	6.74	3.42	1.97	0.49	17.8	9.0	1.29	.285	3.11	67	3.24	84	8.22	66.2
5	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
6	Randy Myers R. Myers	319	666	40	56	.417	12	3.08	843	1	0	828.0	699	283	307	63	370	10	506	38	3,490	28	9.16	4.02	2.28	0.68	24.2	10.6	1.29	.289	3.34	79	3.23	81	7.60	69.6
7	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
8	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
9	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
10	Doug Jones D. Jones	278	653	56	66	.459	4	3.10	721	0	0	865.2	864	298	344	53	188	30	541	42	3,633	15	7.50	1.95	3.84	0.55	19.8	5.2	1.22	.307	3.58	75	2.79	69	8.98	122.3
11	Jeff Montgomery J. Montgomery	256	595	43	43	.500	1	2.91	652	0	0	761.1	655	246	272	66	253	22	459	35	3,153	32	7.71	2.99	2.58	0.78	20.7	8.0	1.19	.273	3.22	67	3.41	81	7.74	63.2
12	Todd Worrell T. Worrell	256	617	50	52	.490	0	3.09	628	0	0	693.2	608	238	264	65	247	7	456	67	2,893	23	8.15	3.20	2.54	0.84	21.7	8.5	1.23	.279	3.43	82	3.41	90	7.89	31.3
13	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
14	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
15	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
16	Rick Aguilera R. Aguilera	237	549	72	66	.522	89	3.50	890	10	0	1101.2	1,057	429	480	111	306	29	408	38	4,607	47	7.27	2.50	2.91	0.91	19.3	6.6	1.24	.289	3.92	87	3.48	86	8.64	68
17	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
18	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
19	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
20	John Wetteland J. Wetteland	211	431	35	35	.500	17	2.81	619	0	0	577.0	435	180	205	48	195	14	348	26	2,346	39	9.66	3.04	3.17	0.75	26.4	8.3	1.09	.263	3.20	72	2.98	74	6.79	69.4
21	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
22	Rod Beck R. Beck	199	416	21	28	.429	0	2.97	393	0	0	463.0	404	153	164	52	93	11	346	17	1,866	13	7.64	1.81	4.23	1.01	21.1	5.0	1.07	.267	3.19	77	3.43	85	7.85	28.7
23	Mike Henneman M. Henneman	193	561	57	42	.576	0	3.21	533	0	0	732.2	686	261	301	47	271	19	432	82	3,112	48	6.55	3.33	1.97	0.58	17.1	8.7	1.31	.285	3.70	76	3.44	81	8.43	64.5
24	Mitch Williams M. Williams	192	619	45	58	.437	3	3.65	660	0	0	691.1	537	280	317	49	544	52	419	39	3,119	44	8.59	7.08	1.21	0.64	21.2	17.4	1.56	.269	4.13	91	4.43	111	6.99	-34.7
25	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