But Blue, I put tape over them!

[AtlUmpSteve]

You are correct; putting tape over earrings is not spelled out in the rulebook. But, the standard philosphy is that if you (as an umpire) see a player with tape on her ears, and never see her with earrings on, should you make the leap of faith that she has earrings underneath? Frankly, is it any of your business, any more than to ask to see navel rings or other hidden piercings? Are we looking for trouble? As far as I know, she has matching mosquito bites.

Further, since you never saw jewelry, it couldn't be dangerous in your judgment. If the player gets hurt, you have a fairly solid defense that 1) you never saw jewelry, 2) it couldn't be subject of your judgment, because 3) the player and those responsible for her allowed her to hide it from you.

My philosphy is that I won't attempt to guess what is under the tape or bandaids. But, if a player walks on the field with earrings or other visible and potentially dangerous jewelry, and I tell her to take them off, they must come off; in that case, I can't NOT assume the tape is covering jewelry.