Before 2003, Lee Smith had the most saves, with 478 saves.

Interpreted as:

pitcher with most regular-season saves before 2003

	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	422	998	88	76	.537	0	2.75	907	0	0	1150.1	1,062	351	414	70	449	19	741	72	4,880	50	7.10	3.51	2.02	0.55	18.6	9.2	1.31	.289	3.24	70	3.34	84	8.31	80.1
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	Trevor Hoffman T. Hoffman	352	632	45	44	.506	0	2.79	797	0	0	701.0	526	217	241	65	214	6	520	43	2,825	40	10.23	2.75	3.72	0.83	28.2	7.6	1.06	.264	3.09	69	2.96	70	6.75	101.8
6	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
7	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
8	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
9	Roberto Hernandez R. Hernandez	320	696	48	51	.485	3	3.22	716	0	0	775.0	698	277	311	62	305	25	585	28	3,293	31	8.31	3.54	2.35	0.72	21.7	9.3	1.29	.291	3.61	70	3.52	78	8.11	85.9
10	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
11	Robb Nen R. Nen	314	643	45	42	.517	4	2.98	793	0	0	715.0	607	237	266	51	260	7	549	41	2,983	36	9.98	3.27	3.05	0.64	26.6	8.7	1.21	.297	3.35	72	2.92	69	7.64	108.2
12	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
13	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
14	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
15	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
16	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
17	Rod Beck R. Beck	266	642	35	41	.461	0	3.28	597	0	0	708.2	651	258	283	85	171	19	479	31	2,922	22	7.58	2.17	3.49	1.08	20.4	5.9	1.16	.276	3.59	80	3.71	89	8.27	34
18	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
19	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
20	Troy Percival T. Percival	250	475	27	30	.474	0	2.95	599	0	0	487.2	317	160	172	49	211	17	369	18	1,995	23	11.05	3.89	2.84	0.90	30.0	10.6	1.08	.239	3.17	63	3.35	71	5.85	72.1
21	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
22	Mariano Rivera M. Rivera	243	448	38	27	.585	10	2.60	519	0	0	579.0	454	167	179	34	167	11	348	20	2,349	9	8.07	2.60	3.11	0.53	22.1	7.1	1.07	.260	2.78	56	2.99	65	7.06	105.8
23	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
24	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
25	Jose Mesa J. Mesa	225	701	65	84	.436	95	4.22	851	6	2	1241.2	1,293	582	631	113	513	43	426	41	5,435	62	6.17	3.72	1.66	0.82	15.7	9.4	1.45	.301	4.57	98	4.15	96	9.37	27.2