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.
Sleek as a Bullet train, Raleway is an intriguing sans-serif typeface from American designer Matt McInerney, the man behind the massive styling of Orbitron. Raleway's appearance is sharp and functional, but that won't stop font lovers from calling it Grotesque. In typography-speak, Grotesque is a style of sans serif originating in the 19th century. There are Grotesques galore on today's PCs.