Ladies' Day & Rain Check

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   OED has an 1884 "rain check," and I think we also have earlier citations for "ladies' day."
   FWIW, from the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 8 August 1953, pg. 8, col. 4:

_Started Ladies' Day, Too_
   _Abner Powell Dies, Issued_
   _First Baseball Rain Check_
   NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 7 (AP).--Abner Powell, 92, originator of baseball's rain check and ladies' day, died today.  Formerly a player and manager, always a fan, he retired several years ago but had been active until he suffered a heart attack this spring.  Earlier he went to Florida to watch spring training of the Philadelphia Athletics.
   New Orleans' "Father of Baseball" came here in 1887 as manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.  That same year he organized the rain check and ladies' day.  Both became established parts of baseball.
   Mr. Powell explained that the rain check was devised because "we were losing money on rainy days then by giving tickets to those who jumped the fence or (Col. 5--ed.) came in on passes."  And paying customers didn't like the idea of buying a ticket and then having the game rained out after one or two innings.
   Ladies' day was devised to boost attendance by getting women interested in the game.
   Less than a week before Mr. Powell died, Bill Keefe, sports editor of "The New Orleans Times-Picayune," urged that Mr. Powell be selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N. Y.
   "Few men since the days of another Abner--Abner Doubleday--have done as much for baseball as Abner Powell," Mr. Keefe wrote.  "Often he worked like a laborer building diamonds, training players and smoking up interest."
   Mr. Powell was born in Shenandoah, Pa., in 1860 and began his baseball career in Philadelphia in 1881.  He spent more than twenty-five years as player and manager, and then operated an automobile agency.  But his interest in the game never dwindled.

(And about that other Abner, he didn't invent baseball...--ed.)