1877 US in baseball; metaphorical usage from 1896, more generally from 1930. Since at least 1870, baseball teams would reissue tickets in case of postponement due to rain, which became known as rain checks.
Update: In fact, the latest update of iPhoto is using Helvetica Neue. And now there's Avenir, a Linotype typeface and Apple's new favorite. It was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988, inspired by two old school typefaces created in the 20s: Erbar by Jakob Erbar and Futura by Paul Renner.
Whatâs Trending in Type. Arial is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders. It was released in 1982 by Monotype and although commonly thought of as a Helvetica ripoff, Arial was primarily influenced by Monotype Grotesque, a typeface released 31 years before Helvetica.