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	554	1
Mariano Rivera	482	2
Lee Smith	478	3
John Franco	424	4
Dennis Eckersley	390	5
Billy Wagner	385	6
Jeff Reardon	367	7
Troy Percival	352	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
Dan Quisenberry	244	28
Sparky Lyle	238	29
Ugueth Urbina	237	30
Hoyt Wilhelm	227	31
Gene Garber	218	32
Gregg Olson	217	33
Dave Smith	216	34
Francisco Cordero	211	35
Francisco Rodriguez	208	36
Jeff Shaw	203	37
Bobby Thigpen	201	38
Joe Nathan	200	39
Roy Face	193	40
Mike Henneman	193
Mitch Williams	192	42
Keith Foulke	191	43
Mike Marshall	188	44
Eric Gagne	187	45
Eddie Guardado	187
Jeff Russell	186	47
Steve Bedrosian	184	48
Kent Tekulve	184
Danny Graves	182	50
Tug McGraw	180	51
Ron Perranoski	179	52
Bryan Harvey	177	53
Jeff Brantley	172	54
Lindy McDaniel	172
Brad Lidge	164	56
Billy Koch	163	57
Roger McDowell	159	58
Tom Gordon	158	59
Dan Plesac	158
Jay Howell	155	61
Stu Miller	154	62
John Smoltz	154
Don McMahon	153	64
Greg Minton	150	65
Ted Abernathy	148	66
Willie Hernandez	147	67
Dave Giusti	145	68
Jesse Orosco	144	69
Mike Williams	144
Clay Carroll	143	71
Darold Knowles	143
Mike Jackson	142	73
Jose Valverde	142
Mike Timlin	141	75
Gary Lavelle	136	76
Jim Brewer	132	77
Steve Farr	132
Bob Stanley	132
Joe Borowski	131	80
Ron Davis	130	81
Antonio Alfonseca	129	82
Kazuhiro Sasaki	129
Chad Cordero	128	84
Terry Forster	127	85
Bill Campbell	126	86
Dave LaRoche	126
Mel Rojas	126
John Hiller	125	89
Jack Aker	123	90
Dick Radatz	122	91
Duane Ward	121	92
Mark Wohlers	119	93
Ricky Bottalico	116	94
Bobby Jenks	116
Brian Fuentes	115	96
Tippy Martinez	115
B.J. Ryan	115
Danys Baez	114	99
Jonathan Papelbon	113	100
Name	Games	Rank
Current Through 2008 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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