Before 2000, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 478 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 2000

	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	416	878	77	70	.524	0	2.64	801	0	0	1041.1	961	306	365	56	404	15	711	64	4,409	44	6.92	3.49	1.98	0.48	18.2	9.2	1.31	.289	3.15	68	3.26	83	8.31	77
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	Jeff Montgomery J. Montgomery	304	700	46	52	.469	1	3.27	733	0	0	868.2	785	316	347	81	296	26	549	40	3,637	33	7.59	3.07	2.48	0.84	20.2	8.1	1.24	.281	3.60	73	3.58	84	8.13	63.5
10	Doug Jones D. Jones	301	792	65	77	.458	4	3.26	855	0	0	1055.0	1,069	382	431	80	229	37	618	49	4,435	17	7.29	1.95	3.73	0.68	19.3	5.2	1.23	.306	3.68	77	3.07	74	9.12	128.4
11	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
12	John Wetteland J. Wetteland	296	556	42	40	.512	17	2.82	751	0	0	705.0	549	221	252	63	228	14	466	28	2,876	40	9.59	2.91	3.29	0.80	26.1	7.9	1.10	.267	3.22	69	3.05	73	7.01	89.2
13	Rick Aguilera R. Aguilera	289	678	85	79	.518	89	3.52	992	10	0	1243.2	1,186	486	540	127	333	32	513	40	5,181	52	7.18	2.41	2.98	0.92	19.1	6.4	1.22	.286	3.91	85	3.52	86	8.58	80.9
14	Rod Beck R. Beck	260	540	26	37	.413	0	3.20	499	0	0	587.1	540	209	226	68	131	14	443	24	2,411	16	7.65	2.01	3.81	1.04	20.7	5.4	1.14	.278	3.46	80	3.57	86	8.27	33.9
15	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
16	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
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	Roberto Hernandez R. Hernandez	234	512	38	35	.521	3	3.02	570	0	0	582.0	491	195	215	40	244	18	430	22	2,464	20	8.81	3.77	2.34	0.62	23.1	9.9	1.26	.283	3.32	67	3.34	75	7.59	73.8
20	Trevor Hoffman T. Hoffman	228	439	36	28	.563	0	2.69	580	0	0	509.0	365	152	167	46	164	4	354	35	2,041	30	10.26	2.90	3.54	0.81	28.4	8.0	1.04	.256	2.95	67	2.99	71	6.45	71.3
21	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
22	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
23	Gregg Olson G. Olson	217	581	40	37	.519	0	3.23	549	0	0	629.2	551	226	240	38	303	11	428	40	2,688	42	7.85	4.33	1.81	0.54	20.4	11.3	1.36	.287	3.43	75	3.49	81	7.88	53.7
24	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
25	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