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.
It is sans-serif font (meaning does not have the small lines at the end of characters). The original typeface was presented in just three weights in regular and italic forms. It was reworked in 2004 and twenty four variations of the typeface in six different weights was created available under the name of Avenir Next. The new set gave the designers considerable freedom in using Avenir â¢ in their works.