Year by Year Leaders for Saves

Ever wonder who had the most saves the year you were born? How about pitchers from you favorite team — have they ever led the league in saves? Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a year-by-year leaderboard in Major League saves for every season since 1876. Note: A bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season.

"I want them to think I'm crazy." - Saves Leader (1975) Al 'The Mud Hungarian' Hrabosky



Did you know that during the 1911 season Mordecai Brown of the Chicago Cubs became the first Major League pitcher to achieve double digit saves when he finished the regular season with thirteen?

Bobby Thigpen (1990), Randy Myers (1993), Dennis Eckersley (1992), Trevor Hoffman (1998), Rod Beck (1998), Mariano Rivera (2001 & 2004), John Smoltz (2002), Eric Gagne (2002 & 2003) and Francisco Rodriguez (2008) are the only nine pitchers in history to have more than fifty saves during a single season.

Only three pitchers in Major League history have ever been able to accumulate over four-hundred career saves. Do you know who they are without looking at the answer?