300 save club

A right-handed Hispanic baseball pitcher, wearing a grey uniform with the lettering "NEW YORK" across it, with his body facing the right as he prepares to throw a baseball.
Mariano Rivera has the most career saves in Major League Baseball history with 652.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 300 save club is the group of pitchers who have recorded 300 or more regular-season saves in their careers. Most commonly a relief pitcher ("reliever" or "closer") earns a save by being the final pitcher of a game in which his team is winning by three or fewer runs and pitching at least one inning without losing the lead. The final pitcher of a game can earn a save by getting at least one batter out to end the game with the tying run on base, at bat, or on deck, or by pitching the last three innings without relinquishing the lead, regardless of score. The statistic was created by Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official statistic by MLB in 1969. The save has been retroactively measured for past pitchers where applicable. Hoyt Wilhelm retired in 1972 and recorded just 31 saves from 1969 onwards, for example, but holds 228 total career saves.

Mariano Rivera holds the MLB save record with 652. Only Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have exceeded 500 or 600 saves, and Hoffman was the first to achieve either. Only eight pitchers have recorded 400 or more saves: Rivera, Hoffman, Lee Smith, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Francisco Rodríguez, John Franco, and Billy Wagner.

Rollie Fingers was the first player to record 300 saves, reaching the mark on August 21, 1982. Aroldis Chapman is the most recent, achieving his 300th on August 26, 2021. The New York Mets are the only franchise to see three players reach the milestone while on their roster—John Franco, Billy Wagner, and Jason Isringhausen. In total, 31 players have recorded 300 or more saves in their career. Only nine relievers – Dennis Eckersley, Fingers, Goose Gossage, Hoffman, Rivera, Smith, Bruce Sutter, Wagner, and Wilhelm – have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; all but Wilhelm also have at least 300 saves. Jansen, Kimbrel, and Chapman are the only active players with more than 300 saves.

Key

List

A man in a white baseball uniform and navy blue cap stands on a dirt mound throwing a pitch with his right hand. He is wearing a black belt, black shoes, and a black baseball glove, and his uniform reads "Padres" in navy blue script across the chest, outlined in tan. His cap has two interlocked letters: "S" and "D".
Trevor Hoffman was the first player to reach the 500 and 600 save milestones.
Aroldis Chapman, joining the club on August 26, 2021, is the most recent addition.
  • Stats updated as of April 24, 2025.
A ticket from the game where Goose Gossage became the second player in MLB history to earn 300 career saves on August 6, 1988.


See also

Notes

References

General
Specific

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=300_save_club&oldid=1287272866"
Uses material from the Wikipedia article 300 save club, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.