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Marc S.Ryan's many statistical records are the results of longevity in the game -- not because of particular dominance at any one time. Yes, Ryan played for some mediocre teams -- but he was only a mediocre pitcher on those teams, not the dominant leader that Carlton was on the Phillies in 1972.
To play devil's advocate -- Nolan Ryan gave up more walks than anyone else ever. In fact, he gave up more than 50% more than the number two pitcher (Carlton). Thus, he was the worst pitcher of all time. Or take into account his 292 losses. It gets silly.
I think baseball's most overrated stat is batting average. There are clearly a dozen other metrics that are more detailed and informative than batting average -- and they possess much greater predictive power in a person's ability to generate runs for his team. And batting average tends to be one of the three most widely used offensive stats in the game.