Before 2001, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 478 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 2001

	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	420	940	82	74	.526	0	2.68	857	0	0	1097.0	1,007	327	389	62	430	17	725	70	4,648	46	7.03	3.53	1.99	0.51	18.4	9.3	1.31	.288	3.19	69	3.29	84	8.26	80.3
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	John Wetteland J. Wetteland	330	618	48	45	.516	17	2.93	804	0	0	765.0	616	249	287	73	252	16	523	30	3,145	40	9.46	2.96	3.19	0.86	25.6	8.0	1.13	.272	3.38	70	3.19	75	7.25	90.2
8	Rick Aguilera R. Aguilera	318	732	86	81	.515	89	3.57	1,030	10	0	1291.1	1,233	512	568	138	351	36	557	42	5,391	53	7.18	2.45	2.93	0.96	19.1	6.5	1.23	.285	3.96	86	3.61	87	8.59	74.5
9	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
10	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
11	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
12	Doug Jones D. Jones	303	846	69	79	.466	4	3.30	909	0	0	1128.1	1,155	414	465	86	247	39	640	53	4,754	18	7.25	1.97	3.68	0.69	19.1	5.2	1.24	.308	3.71	78	3.10	74	9.21	138.6
13	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
14	Trevor Hoffman T. Hoffman	271	509	40	35	.533	0	2.72	665	0	0	581.1	426	176	196	53	175	4	413	39	2,332	34	10.30	2.71	3.80	0.82	28.5	7.5	1.03	.260	3.03	67	2.92	69	6.60	88.1
15	Roberto Hernandez R. Hernandez	266	580	42	42	.500	3	3.04	631	0	0	655.1	567	221	248	49	267	21	488	23	2,779	22	8.67	3.67	2.36	0.67	22.7	9.6	1.27	.286	3.41	67	3.43	76	7.79	79.6
16	Rod Beck R. Beck	260	574	29	37	.439	0	3.20	534	0	0	628.0	574	223	241	70	143	16	451	25	2,580	17	7.65	2.05	3.73	1.00	20.7	5.5	1.14	.277	3.45	79	3.54	85	8.23	41.1
17	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
18	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
19	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
20	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
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	Robb Nen R. Nen	226	496	35	35	.500	4	3.08	619	0	0	563.2	485	193	219	43	218	5	412	27	2,370	33	9.88	3.48	2.84	0.69	26.1	9.2	1.25	.298	3.50	74	3.09	72	7.74	76.2
23	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
24	Gregg Olson G. Olson	217	594	40	38	.513	0	3.28	564	0	0	647.1	572	236	251	42	310	12	437	40	2,769	42	7.84	4.31	1.82	0.58	20.4	11.2	1.36	.288	3.49	76	3.55	82	7.95	51.5
25	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