Rain check (baseball)

In baseball, a rain check is a ticket issued to spectators which admits them to the ballpark at a later date at no additional cost to the ticket holder. It is issued if a game is cancelled due to rain or other inclement weather, or if a game has been started but suspended due to inclement weather prior to the point of becoming an official game (five innings in regular season Major League Baseball games or at any time during the postseason). Depending on the home team/league policy and the rescheduling of the game, the rain check may admit the ticket holder to watch the rained out game or the continuation of a suspended game only on the rescheduled date, or it may allow the ticket holder to exchange the tickets for tickets of equal value to another game within a specified time frame.

Rain checks were originally separate tickets issued by the home team to spectators as they left the ballpark following a rainout. In modern times, the ticket to the rained out game serves as the rain check. The practice has been recorded since the 1870s^[1][2] – though it did not become generally established until the 20th century^[2] – and today the term "rain check" is used idiomatically to refer to any deferred promise.