Chris Silverwood took a season's best 5-43 to have Hampshire all out for 206 after Robin Smith had decided to bat first.
But then former Yorkshire bowler Peter Hartley reminded his old county that he is not a spent force by taking two quick wickets when Yorkshire responded and they ended the first day still 144 behind on 62-3.
Silverwood made light of the absence of his England colleague Darren Gough, who failed a fitness test on a shin injury.
He dismissed John Stephenson in his first spell and then got rid of Derek Kenway when he returned after lunch.
Silverwood demolished Hampshire's tail by dismissing Nixon McLean, Matthew Keech and Hartley in rapid succession.
Will Kendall was Hampshire's top scorer with a belligerent 46 which included nine boundaries while Keech spent more than two hours compiling a valuable 37.
When Yorkshire responded they found batting no easier on a wicket which provided plenty of help to the seam bowlers.
Michael Vaughan was yorked by West Indian McLean in his second over and it soon got worse for the Yorkshiremen.
Australian Greg Blewett was lbw to Hartley without scoring and Matthew Wood was bowled by Hartley to leave Yorkshire reeling at 5-3.
But then David Byas and Anthony McGrath began to repair the damage with an unbroken stand of 57 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket - the highest partnership of the day.
Byas was unbeaten with 31 at the close and Hartley, who spent 13 years with Yorkshire, almost finished the day with a third wicket.
McGrath had scored 18 when he edged Hartley to Keech at first slip where he was unable to hold on to a difficult chance.
Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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