Before 1999, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 478 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 1999

	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	John Franco J. Franco	397	832	77	68	.531	0	2.64	760	0	0	1000.2	921	293	351	55	385	13	677	63	4,227	44	6.84	3.46	1.97	0.49	18.0	9.1	1.31	.287	3.16	68	3.27	84	8.28	70
3	Dennis Eckersley D. Eckersley	390	1,071	197	171	.535	361	3.50	2,401	100	20	3285.2	3,076	1,278	1,382	347	738	75	577	91	13,534	28	6.58	2.02	3.25	0.95	17.7	5.5	1.16	.274	3.79	86	3.40	85	8.43	224.9
4	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
5	Randy Myers R. Myers	347	728	44	63	.411	12	3.19	884	1	0	884.2	758	314	338	69	396	12	548	43	3,744	32	8.99	4.03	2.23	0.70	23.6	10.6	1.30	.289	3.44	81	3.32	83	7.71	68.8
6	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
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	Jeff Montgomery J. Montgomery	292	651	45	48	.484	1	3.05	706	0	0	817.1	713	277	307	74	275	24	513	37	3,400	32	7.77	3.03	2.57	0.81	20.8	8.1	1.21	.275	3.38	70	3.48	82	7.85	65.1
11	Doug Jones D. Jones	291	722	60	72	.455	4	3.23	792	0	0	951.0	963	341	388	70	205	34	583	46	4,005	15	7.50	1.94	3.86	0.66	19.8	5.1	1.23	.308	3.67	78	2.97	73	9.11	118.5
12	Rick Aguilera R. Aguilera	275	617	76	75	.503	89	3.55	947	10	0	1176.0	1,132	464	515	119	321	30	472	39	4,914	48	7.25	2.46	2.95	0.91	19.3	6.5	1.24	.290	3.94	87	3.49	86	8.66	75.3
13	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
14	John Wetteland J. Wetteland	253	494	38	36	.514	17	2.73	691	0	0	639.0	482	194	222	54	209	14	407	27	2,595	40	9.73	2.94	3.31	0.76	26.6	8.1	1.08	.263	3.13	69	2.96	73	6.79	82.3
15	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
16	Rod Beck R. Beck	250	497	24	32	.429	0	2.98	474	0	0	543.1	490	180	197	63	113	13	416	21	2,215	15	7.85	1.87	4.19	1.04	21.4	5.1	1.11	.275	3.26	76	3.48	85	8.12	34.3
17	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
18	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
19	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
20	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
21	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
22	Gregg Olson G. Olson	203	520	31	33	.484	0	3.18	504	0	0	569.0	497	201	212	29	278	9	392	38	2,431	41	7.97	4.40	1.81	0.46	20.7	11.4	1.36	.291	3.35	74	3.34	78	7.86	55.2
23	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
24	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
25	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