Saves All Time Leaders by Baseball Almanac

Career Leaders for Saves

The pressure is intense as you step onto the mound — knowing you only have to pitch an inning or two at most. However, you also know that the entire game is riding on your skill as a pitcher who should be able to "mow" down the opposing batters and save the game for a team victory.

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present the top one-hundred all-time career leaders in Major League games saved. Note: A bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season.

"Trevor Hoffman is a Hall of Famer, in my opinion. So is Mariano Rivera. Look, Yogi Berra once said, 'If you ain't got relief pitching, you ain't got nothing.' So where in my mind do you think Trevor Hoffman figures? Relief pitchers are critical." - Commissioner Bud Selig on MLB.com (Bryan Hoch, 01/04/09, Are today's closers Hall-worthy?)

Games Saved All Time Leaders 'Top 100'
Name	Games	Rank
Trevor Hoffman	591	1
Mariano Rivera	526	2
Lee Smith	478	3
John Franco	424	4
Dennis Eckersley	390	5
Billy Wagner	385	6
Jeff Reardon	367	7
Troy Percival	358	8
Randy Myers	347	9
Rollie Fingers	341	10
John Wetteland	330	11
Roberto Hernandez	326	12
Jose Mesa	321	13
Todd Jones	319	14
Rick Aguilera	318	15
Robb Nen	314	16
Tom Henke	311	17
Goose Gossage	310	18
Jeff Montgomery	304	19
Doug Jones	303	20
Bruce Sutter	300	21
Jason Isringhausen	293	22
Armando Benitez	289	23
Rod Beck	286	24
Bob Wickman	267	25
Todd Worrell	256	26
Dave Righetti	252	27
Francisco Cordero	250	28
Joe Nathan	247	29
Dan Quisenberry	244	30
Francisco Rodriguez	243	31
Sparky Lyle	238	32
Ugueth Urbina	237	33
Hoyt Wilhelm	227	34
Gene Garber	218	35
Gregg Olson	217	36
Dave Smith	216	37
Jeff Shaw	203	38
Bobby Thigpen	201	39
Brad Lidge	195	40
Roy Face	193	41
Mike Henneman	193
Mitch Williams	192	43
Keith Foulke	191	44
Mike Marshall	188	45
Eric Gagne	187	46
Eddie Guardado	187
Jeff Russell	186	48
Steve Bedrosian	184	49
Kent Tekulve	184
Danny Graves	182	51
Tug McGraw	180	52
Ron Perranoski	179	53
Bryan Harvey	177	54
Jeff Brantley	172	55
Lindy McDaniel	172
Jose Valverde	167	57
Brian Fuentes	163	58
Billy Koch	163
Roger McDowell	159	60
Tom Gordon	158	61
Dan Plesac	158
Jay Howell	155	63
Stu Miller	154	64
John Smoltz	154
Don McMahon	153	66
Jonathan Papelbon	151	67
Greg Minton	150	68
Ted Abernathy	148	69
Willie Hernandez	147	70
Dave Giusti	145	71
Bobby Jenks	145
Jesse Orosco	144	73
Mike Williams	144
Clay Carroll	143	75
Darold Knowles	143
Mike Jackson	142	77
Mike Timlin	141	78
Gary Lavelle	136	79
Jim Brewer	132	80
Steve Farr	132
Bob Stanley	132
Joe Borowski	131	83
Ron Davis	130	84
Antonio Alfonseca	129	85
Kazuhiro Sasaki	129
Huston Street	129
Chad Cordero	128	88
Terry Forster	127	89
Bill Campbell	126	90
Dave LaRoche	126
Mel Rojas	126
John Hiller	125	93
Jack Aker	123	94
Dick Radatz	122	95
Duane Ward	121	96
Mark Wohlers	119	97
B.J. Ryan	117	98
Ricky Bottalico	116	99
Tippy Martinez	115	100
Name	Games	Rank
Current Through 2009 Season

Do you know who was the first Major League closer inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Need a (really big) hint? He is ranked tenth in all-time / career games saved.

Great idea for a theme releated autograph ball: the 300 Saves Club as every member in this closer club is still living and eighteen "stopper" signatures on the same baseball would look incredibly great.

Will four-hundred plus saves be the new standard by which great closers are judged? If they reach that plateau, do they deserve to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame due to that stat? How about closers with three-hundred plus career saves — do they deserve recognition? Share your opinion on Baseball Fever.

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